Dozens of 9/11 first responder advocates and New York’s US senators gathered on Sunday to demand the Trump Administration fully restore staffing cuts to a critical program that provides medical services for those who risked their lives at the World Trade Center during the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the recovery that followed.
U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand from New York stood with 9/11 community leaders to demand President Donald Trump restore key staff for the federal World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program.
Despite Trump’s remarks that 9/11 healthcare program would not be cut, 16 employees in the WTC Health Program received notices of possible termination on April 4. That occurred after earlier staffing cuts at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, an arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which manages the program.
As the future of the program remains in limbo, Schumer called Trump’s actions “bad ones” that hurt New Yorkers and 9/11 heroes. He also singled out Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kenneday Jr. for permitting the layoff of hundreds of staffers at the program.
A Washington Post article from April 2 stated that many of the staff members who were laid off included doctors and epidemiologists who worked on critical research within the program.
“It is revolting that President Trump and Secretary Kennedy, Secretary of Health and Human Services, fired staffers at the World Trade Center Health Program, including its administrator, Dr. John Howard, a Trump appointee who has dedicated his life to serving 9/11 families and who’s respected by all sides of the aisle,” Schumer said.
Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001.REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
‘These are not mistakes’
The senator added that the staffing cuts are a move to end the program, which provides much-need medical services for roughly 137,000 ailing 9/11 first responders and survivors who became sick living and working around the toxic debris left over from the collapse of the Twin Towers after the massively destructive attack.
“Even with the apparent return of Dr. Howard, President Trump and Secretary Kennedy are effectively working to shut the World Trade Center Health Program down,” he said. “This is the third time this has happened, so it’s pretty clear these are not ‘mistakes.’ Some of the Trump supporters who care about the 9/11 program are saying it’s a mistake. It seems clear it’s on purpose, so today we are demanding real action.”
Michael Barasch, an attorney for the 9/11 community, said if the layoffs are not reversed, responders from 9/11 and survivors “will die needlessly.” He added that on average, two of his clients die every day.
“Without doctors available to certify 9/11-related illnesses, 9/11 community members with cancer will also not have access to compensation awards that have already protected thousands of families from destitution,” he said. “The federal government made a promise to ‘never forget’ the 9/11 community. These layoffs are a breach of that promise.”
Trump, as he is doing with several other federal departments, is questioning the need for staffing and funding at the WTC Health Program.
Gillibrand called the political probe “disrespectful” to the 9/11 community.
“The Trump administration is using our nation’s heroes as political pawns while critical questions surrounding the program’s funding and staffing cuts remain,” she said. “This is completely unacceptable and disrespectful to the 9/11 responders and survivors who protected our nation when we were under attack and are now suffering from life-threatening health ramifications from that day.”
The human cost of rescue and recovery
In addition to providing direct care, the WTC Health Program also funds medical research into physical and mental health conditions related to 9/11 exposure. It was propelled into action shortly after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Inspector General deemed the agency’s original report misleading when it stated the air around the attack site was safe to breathe in.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, the FDNY has lost 398 members to World Trade Center illnesses, including various forms of respiratory cancer.
Gary Smiley of FDNY EMS Local 2507, Uniformed EMTs, Paramedics and Fire Inspectors said cuts will affect many first responders who were at the site in the aftermath of the attacks.
“The cuts to NIOSH and the CDC which directly affect the WTC Health Program tear the program to its core and will directly affect the tens of thousands of responders and survivors who depend on the program to stay alive and is a potential death sentence to those responders and survivors who will become sick in the days, months and years to follow from exposure to the toxic dust,” Smiley said.
The program serves workers or volunteers who provide rescue, recovery, and debris cleanup and support services on or during the aftermath of the terror attacks between Sept. 11, 2001, and July 31, 2002.
Three types of responders can be part of the program: FDNY responders, WTC general responders, including NYPD, and responders from the terror attacks at the Pentagon and Shanksville, PA.
The WTC Health Program is currently authorized through 2090.
