9/11 Health Care Our View

There has been a lot of craziness going on surrounding the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act so we thought that we would give our perspective.

The act has been stalled in the House Health Subcommittee since July with little or no activity.

Rep. Frank Pallone has stated that he is doing all that he can to move the bill along but he does need to take at least some of the blame for the inactivity considering that in a press release this past September 11 he stated that he will be scheduling a mark-up of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2009 in the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee at the end of this month. At the same time, Pallone, who chairs the Health Subcommittee, urged all supporters of the measure to mobilize and to press other members of the subcommittee to provide enough votes for approval. "We can start the momentum with a mark-up, but we need to generate enough support to get it voted out of the subcommittee," said Pallone. "The emergency responders put their lives on the line when they were needed, we should respond to their needs now."

It is now 2010 and nothing has happened.

The least he can do is co-sponsor the bill as I do not see his name on the list of co-sponsors (see below)

That being said there are plenty of others to blame including the other 103 co-sponsors and the 331 representatives that have not co-sponsored the bill.

We need to go after them to put pressure to get this bill out of committee.

I have been told that there are three reasons why there has been no movement.


Primary Reason

Orders from the top (Obama and Pelosi) have pulled all available resources and put them on the National Health Care Bill.

I have been told that there are very few resources available to work on anything else.

If this is the case it is a very sad commentary on the ways things are getting done.

Also the veil of secrecy that continues to shield activity makes it very difficult to get the real story.

Secondary Concerns

It appears that members of the subcommittee as well of other members of Congress are concerned that the bill not only covers responders but residents and workers in NYC as well.

They tend to think that this is a New York issue and not a national concern.

Our response to that is that once Christie Whitman as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (a Federal Agency) made a public statement assuring everyone that the air quality was fine in New York City shortly after 9/11 this became a Federal issue.

There is also a concern that NYC was already given $1 billion to support health claims resulting from 9/11 but has only used that money to pay lawyers to fight the claims.

Unfortunately we cannot argue this point as it is a disgrace the way the Captive Insurance Corp under the guidance of Mayor Bloomberg has handled 9/11 health claims over the past 5 years.

The final issue is that of the many undocumented workers that are also covered under the current version of the bill.

It appears that many of the members of the committee are leery about opening up a can of worms if coverage is expanded to cover this portion of the population.

To this point we really do not have an answer but one would think they would be able to work something out.

So those are the facts as we know them.

Although most of the attention has been about the first responder portion of the bill because of the way our government works there are always other things involved.

Our recommendation would be to continue to reach out to your Representative to get him or her on board.

We would also like to know why Obama and Pelosi are allowed to basically bring all other work to a halt by assigning resources to their pet projects and why hasn’t the media been all over this.

We would ask Representative Pallone to at least co-sponsor the bill to show his support.

Finally we hope that everyone realizes that this is just the first step as if we do get these issues worked out there is still the Senate version of the bill S.1334 which currently only has 3 co-sponsors which will need to be addressed.

We hope this makes things a little clearer and we will continue to support this effort and keep you updated.

Below please find some additional information on both bills.

Dennis McKeon
150-L Greaves Lane # 312
Staten Island, NY 10308
718-966-6531


H.R.847 Title: To amend the Public Health Service Act to extend and improve protections and services to individuals directly impacted by the terrorist attack in New York City on September 11, 2001, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Rep Maloney, Carolyn B. [NY-14] (introduced 2/4/2009) Cosponsors (103) Related Bills: S.1334 Latest Major Action: 7/29/2009 House committee/subcommittee actions. Status: Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties Discharged.
COSPONSORS(103), ALPHABETICAL [followed by Cosponsors withdrawn]: (Sort: by date)
Rep Ackerman, Gary L. [NY-5] - 2/4/2009
Rep Andrews, Robert E. [NJ-1] - 5/4/2009
Rep Arcuri, Michael A. [NY-24] - 2/4/2009
Rep Baldwin, Tammy [WI-2] - 10/20/2009
Rep Berkley, Shelley [NV-1] - 2/10/2009
Rep Bishop, Sanford D., Jr. [GA-2] - 3/5/2009
Rep Bishop, Timothy H. [NY-1] - 2/4/2009
Rep Brady, Robert A. [PA-1] - 5/7/2009
Rep Braley, Bruce L. [IA-1] - 12/15/2009
Rep Burgess, Michael C. [TX-26] - 2/4/2009
Rep Cao, Anh "Joseph" [LA-2] - 12/1/2009
Rep Capps, Lois [CA-23] - 9/15/2009
Rep Carney, Christopher P. [PA-10] - 10/22/2009
Rep Castor, Kathy [FL-11] - 9/16/2009
Rep Christensen, Donna M. [VI] - 4/22/2009
Rep Clarke, Yvette D. [NY-11] - 2/4/2009
Rep Cohen, Steve [TN-9] - 4/29/2009
Rep Connolly, Gerald E. "Gerry" [VA-11] - 2/13/2009
Rep Conyers, John, Jr. [MI-14] - 3/31/2009
Rep Courtney, Joe [CT-2] - 7/31/2009
Rep Crowley, Joseph [NY-7] - 2/4/2009
Rep Cummings, Elijah E. [MD-7] - 12/1/2009
Rep Dahlkemper, Kathleen A. [PA-3] - 3/26/2009
Rep DeLauro, Rosa L. [CT-3] - 3/4/2009
Rep Dent, Charles W. [PA-15] - 3/5/2009
Rep Doyle, Michael F. [PA-14] - 3/5/2009
Rep Ellsworth, Brad [IN-8] - 10/20/2009
Rep Engel, Eliot L. [NY-17] - 2/4/2009
Rep Etheridge, Bob [NC-2] - 3/26/2009
Rep Fattah, Chaka [PA-2] - 7/28/2009
Rep Filner, Bob [CA-51] - 11/19/2009
Rep Garrett, Scott [NJ-5] - 5/20/2009
Rep Gonzalez, Charles A. [TX-20] - 7/28/2009
Rep Green, Gene [TX-29] - 2/10/2009
Rep Grijalva, Raul M. [AZ-7] - 3/4/2009
Rep Hall, John J. [NY-19] - 2/4/2009
Rep Harman, Jane [CA-36] - 11/19/2009
Rep Higgins, Brian [NY-27] - 2/4/2009
Rep Himes, James A. [CT-4] - 2/4/2009
Rep Hinchey, Maurice D. [NY-22] - 2/4/2009
Rep Hodes, Paul W. [NH-2] - 7/9/2009
Rep Holden, Tim [PA-17] - 12/1/2009
Rep Holt, Rush D. [NJ-12] - 3/10/2009
Rep Israel, Steve [NY-2] - 2/4/2009
Rep Jackson-Lee, Sheila [TX-18] - 11/16/2009
Rep Jones, Walter B., Jr. [NC-3] - 9/10/2009
Rep King, Peter T. [NY-3] - 2/4/2009
Rep Klein, Ron [FL-22] - 3/4/2009
Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. [OH-10] - 3/4/2009
Rep Lance, Leonard [NJ-7] - 2/25/2009
Rep Larson, John B. [CT-1] - 3/10/2009
Rep Lee, Barbara [CA-9] - 3/4/2009
Rep Lee, Christopher J. [NY-26] - 2/4/2009
Rep Lewis, John [GA-5] - 3/4/2009
Rep Lipinski, Daniel [IL-3] - 9/22/2009
Rep Lowey, Nita M. [NY-18] - 2/4/2009
Rep Lynch, Stephen F. [MA-9] - 12/1/2009
Rep Maffei, Daniel B. [NY-25] - 2/4/2009
Rep Markey, Edward J. [MA-7] - 12/2/2009
Rep Massa, Eric J. J. [NY-29] - 2/4/2009
Rep McCarthy, Carolyn [NY-4] - 2/4/2009
Rep McCaul, Michael T. [TX-10] - 6/4/2009
Rep McCollum, Betty [MN-4] - 12/15/2009
Rep McGovern, James P. [MA-3] - 2/4/2009
Rep McHugh, John M. [NY-23] - 2/4/2009
Rep McMahon, Michael E. [NY-13] - 2/4/2009
Rep Meeks, Gregory W. [NY-6] - 2/4/2009
Rep Murphy, Christopher S. [CT-5] - 3/10/2009
Rep Murphy, Patrick J. [PA-8] - 11/19/2009
Rep Murphy, Scott [NY-20] - 7/15/2009

Rep Murphy, Tim [PA-18] - 9/16/2009
Rep Nadler, Jerrold [NY-8] - 2/4/2009

Rep Napolitano, Grace F. [CA-38] - 12/1/2009
Rep Neal, Richard E. [MA-2] - 11/19/2009

Rep Norton, Eleanor Holmes [DC] - 12/1/2009
Rep Nye, Glenn C., III [VA-2] - 12/8/2009

Rep Pascrell, Bill, Jr. [NJ-8] - 2/4/2009
Rep Pierluisi, Pedro R. [PR] - 3/16/2009

Rep Rangel, Charles B. [NY-15] - 2/4/2009
Rep Reichert, David G. [WA-8] - 12/16/2009

Rep Rothman, Steven R. [NJ-9] - 12/1/2009
Rep Rush, Bobby L. [IL-1] - 10/13/2009

Rep Sarbanes, John P. [MD-3] - 9/16/2009
Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. [IL-9] - 2/10/2009

Rep Schauer, Mark H. [MI-7] - 5/7/2009
Rep Schwartz, Allyson Y. [PA-13] - 7/9/2009

Rep Serrano, Jose E. [NY-16] - 2/4/2009
Rep Sestak, Joe [PA-7] - 3/12/2009

Rep Shea-Porter, Carol [NH-1] - 12/1/2009
Rep Sires, Albio [NJ-13] - 9/22/2009

Rep Slaughter, Louise McIntosh [NY-28] - 3/16/2009
Rep Smith, Christopher H. [NJ-4] - 2/10/2009

Rep Stupak, Bart [MI-1] - 9/10/2009
Rep Sutton, Betty [OH-13] - 2/4/2009

Rep Thompson, Bennie G. [MS-2] - 10/13/2009
Rep Tonko, Paul D. [NY-21] - 2/4/2009

Rep Towns, Edolphus [NY-10] - 2/4/2009
Rep Upton, Fred [MI-6] - 11/19/2009

Rep Velazquez, Nydia M. [NY-12] - 3/24/2009
Rep Walz, Timothy J. [MN-1] - 12/9/2009

Rep Weiner, Anthony D. [NY-9] - 2/4/2009
Rep Wexler, Robert [FL-19] - 4/22/2009

Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. [CA-6] - 2/4/2009







S.1334 Title: A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to extend and improve protections and services to individuals directly impacted by the terrorist attack in New York City on September 11, 2001, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Sen Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [NY] (introduced 6/24/2009) Cosponsors (3) Related Bills: H.R.847 Latest Major Action: 6/24/2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
COSPONSORS(3), ALPHABETICAL [followed by Cosponsors withdrawn]: (Sort: by date)
Sen Lautenberg, Frank R. [NJ] - 6/24/2009
Sen Menendez, Robert [NJ] - 6/24/2009
Sen Schumer, Charles E. [NY] - 6/24/2009




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