Bill Clinton: “This money has been counted on to meet the needs of so many of these workers, through the workers comp system, through…”

“This money has been counted on to meet the needs of so many of these workers, through the workers comp system, through the health care system. We fought very hard to make sure there was a sufficient amount of money for the diagnosis of the various physical and mental ills that people suffered after 9/11. I was very grateful we were able to do that. People are being diagnosed. They are being given some help. Unfortunately, without this money, that help cannot continue. After 9/11, we learned that many of the people who were involved in the horrible bombing in Oklahoma City years before were finally coming to ask for help, that they had been suffering in silence. Often there had been terrible memories that interfered with their ability to continue working. This is something that we know from experts is, unfortunately, a very long-term, slow-moving problem, that not everybody suffers the same way immediately. There are those for whom it takes longer to come to grips with what has happened. We are seeing that. We are seeing still people who for the first time go to a physician, for the first time ask for help. I have worked closely with the fire department over the last 4 years and they have been absolutely superb in trying to make sure that help was available, people knew about it, but they are the first to tell you not every one of the firefighters was ready to ask for it. They had to be convinced it was OK to do.…”