Political Quotes

“I rise today to mark a sad occasion. Yesterday, parts of the Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act expired. Specifically, the authorization of the 9/ 11 health program--one of the two critical programs in the Zadroga act--came to an end last night and will have to start winding down. Thankfully, Dr. Howard and his team, who run the program, have responsibly managed their funding, so they can continue to support health services and benefits for several months on into the future, perhaps another year. To be clear, our brave heroes are still able to get health care from this program today. That fact, however, should diminish in no way our responsibility in Congress to reauthorize the program as quickly as possible and permanently--forever. In truth, it is a black mark on a Congress that the program was ever allowed to expire, regardless of its ability to continue operations in the short term. The firefighters, police men and women, construction workers, and first responders from 9/11--many of them injured, many of them sick-- traveled to Washington a few weeks ago to lobby Congress, to petition their representatives and their government to continue supporting basic health services they need to treat cancers, respiratory ailments, and other illnesses directly linked to 9/11. I wish to thank my colleague from New York, Senator Gillibrand, for her valued work on this issue. It has been a passion for her.…”