The city’s firefighters unions on Sunday criticized a decision by lawmakers two days earlier to cut crucial health care funds for 9/11 first responders from the federal budget after Elon Musk and Donald Trump quashed an emergency spending plan, triggering a government shutdown threatened.
“The only thing we had to fall back on was that people would not forget and that they would always be with us,” said James Brosi, president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association. “Unfortunately, about 20 years later, people are starting to forget. It’s inconceivable that we would have to come here and ask Congress to do the right thing.”
After two failed votes by the Republican Party-led House of Representatives, Congress on Friday passed a stopgap bill to fund the government, but it scrapped legislation that would have fully funded the World Trade Center Health Program through 2040, advocates of 11 said September.
“Part of what was left on the table was the bill that would provide health care and compensation for the sick and dying firefighters, police officers, first responders and citizens in New York City who were affected by what happened there,” Andrew said Ansbro, president of the uniformed firefighters association.
Ansbro stood in front of Engine Co. in the bitter cold. 10/Ladder Co. 10, across the street from the World Trade Center.
“The new politicians and those who returned were given a mandate to make America great again,” he said. “We know you can’t make America great again if you leave behind those who are sick and those who are dying, who answered the call of September 11.”
The World Trade Center Health Program was established in 2011 as part of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. It was initially supposed to last five years, but was extended until 2090 as more people fell ill from the September 11 diseases.
Since September, more than 130,000 responders and survivors have enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program. According to the program’s website, just over 7,000 people have registered this year alone.
Republicans on Wednesday abandoned a bipartisan plan to avoid a government shutdown after Musk urged the bill’s failure on his social media platform X, and Trump followed suit. That prompted House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to essentially tear up the deal days before a closing deadline.
On Sunday, Brosi kept his criticism of the emergency law impartial.
“This is not a Republican or Democratic problem. This is a problem of the United States,” he said. “We restored stability, we restored hope, and we did the work that few were willing to do. … It is unthinkable that 23 years later we are all standing here on a 17 degree day in front of this monument begging for money to recognize the people who did the work.”
When asked if he had contacted Trump, Ansbro said: “He is currently out of power and we did not expect tweets from him and Elon Musk to derail the bill, but we look forward to engaging with him to sit down at the table and plead our case and derail the law. he knows New Yorkers expect him to remember New York.
He added: “We’ll see you next year. … We’re not here to point the finger at anyone for what happened that day. We are here to let everyone know that we are not going away.”
