9/11 First Responder: "It's the Ultimate Betrayal"
Lawmakers stung by the failure of the 9/11 health bill returned to Ground Zero Friday in hopes of breathing life into the measure.
Republicans filibustered the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act on Thursday, blocking the start of debate on the bill because they want to see tax cuts passed first.
Manhattan Democratic Reps. Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney ripped the move as “immoral” and “truly sad.”
“Health care for Americans who are ailing because of 9/11 should not be held hostage to partisan politics,” Maloney charged.
Dozens of responders who showed up for the press conference were still in disbelief over the potentially fatal setback.
“I was a registered Republican. I have no idea what I am now,” said Ray Simons, 60, a retired FDNY ambulance worker who said he’s ill from two weeks at The Pile. “For senators to turn this down, it’s like, oh, my God, it’s the ultimate betrayal.”
“These guys, these men and women, went there looking for my wife,” said Charles Wolf, 56, whose late wife, Katherine, worked on the 97th floor of the north tower.
“They went there looking for anybody else’s husband, wife, brother, sister, daughter, mother, father, and now we want to walk away from them,” said Wolf, another Republican disgusted at his party leaders.
“I’ve got to tell you something, it is not the Republican people of this country, it is the Republican senators, it is the Republican politicians, that are against this,” he added.
GOP leaders in New York echoed that anger.
“Washington is sending a clear message to our future heroes that before they risk their lives for our country, they should first get something in writing if they want the government to take care of them after,” said Michael Grimm, congressman-elect from Staten Island.
The Senate can try to move the Zadroga bill again once it passes the $858 billion tax deal cut between the President and GOP leaders.
Several Republicans have suggested they will back the 9/11 bill after tax cuts are extended.
“It’s a long shot, but it lets us keep talking about it in a realistic way,” a Senate leadership source said.
Democrats fear the GOP will find a new objection once the tax hurdle is cleared.
Some 60 House members also are trying a last-ditch effort to attach the $7.4 billion Zadroga bill to the giant tax package.
They admitted it’s a long shot, with chances for Zadroga looking grim.
“I wouldn’t say it’s on life support – I’d say it’s not optimistic, but we still have a shot,” said Nadler.
Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.) was a little more hopeful.
“It’s not necessarily as bad as it seems,” he told the Daily News. “I hope there can be some kind of agreement to bring it back up after the tax bill passes.”
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