After years of effort from this column and elsewhere, in 2010 Congress created the World Trade Center Health Program and then in 2015 voted to keep it open for responders and survivors until 2090. But the numbers of people hit with cancers and other diseases from the poisons of the destruction of the WTC have only grown and they are getting sicker, so the CDC-run health program would be facing cuts beginning in 2025.
There was a $1 billion added during the waning moments of last year by Congress, but that only put off the problem for a few years and the cuts now loom in 2027.
The fix is to pass a bill to permanently and fully fund the medical coverage for the heroes and victims of 9/11. After more than 20 years since the attack, it’s the duty of Congress.
