How Lawmakers Protected — and Failed — 9/11 First Responders

First responder Luis Alvarez pictured with Jon Stewart on Tuesday. Alvarez will soon begin his 69th round of chemotherapy for cancer related to his exposure at Ground Zero. Photo: Zach Gibson/Getty Images On Tuesday, former Daily Show host and frequent advocate for 9/11 first responders John Stewart appeared before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, encouraging representatives to vote on Wednesday to re-up the funding of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.

Initial Exposure Tens of thousands of first responders came to the aid of victims on September 11th, searched for survivors, and managed the clean-up of Ground Zero, exposing themselves to toxic debris in the air, including asbestos, lead, and pulverized concrete, which causes silicosis. “We will never know the composition of that cloud, because the wind carried it away, but people were breathing and eating it,” Dr. Michael Crane, at the World Trade Center Health Program, told Newsweek in 2016.

By the mid-2000s, first-responders’ advocates were claiming negligence on behalf of the government, citing the EPA inspector general’s condemnation of the agency’s response to the disaster. In 2006, EPA chemist Cate Jenkins claimed that the agency knew about the toxicity in the air at Ground Zero, claiming that the particles in the dust were as “caustic and alkaline as Drano.

The new law builds on one passed last year that declared that people who worked on the Sept. 11 rescue and cleanup operations, and later got certain respiratory illness or cancers, would be presumed to have gotten sick in the course of their official duties, entitling them to valuable disability pensions. The new law entitles workers who then die from such diseases to qualify for line-of-duty death benefits.

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Jon Stewart chokes up and slams Congress over treatment of 9/11 first responders'Behind me, a filled room of 9/11 first responders, and in front of me, a nearly empty Congress.' Jon Stewart choked up while slamming Congress over health care for 9/11 responders. Many lawmakers did not show up for the House Judiciary Committee hearing. An American travesty. So the firefighters and police officers ran into the buildings to save people, never to come out and.. 'Many lawmakers did not show up for the House Judiciary Committee hearing.' Name the Congressional representatives who didn't show. PeteButtigieg 🇺🇸 No more blood for oil, we got our own battles To fight on our own soil, no more psychological warfare
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Watch Jon Stewart Shred Congress Over Lack of Health Care for 9/11 First Responders'Sick and dying, they brought themselves down here to speak to no one,” Stewart said. “It’s an embarrassment to the country, and it is a stain on this institution” Thank you to Jon Stewart for speaking out for 911 victims🇺🇸🙏 Americans are into culling the herd, using lack of a universal medical plan to do it. It’s barbaric, but many seem to lack the morals to change that and figure oh well, survival of the fittest! Esp. those with the ability to pay. Funny dat.
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