Ground Zero Responders Bill Remains Blocked by Abuse of Senate Rules

As this CWA Newsletter closed out, some Senate Republicans led by Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) were continuing to stall discussion of the bill to provide health care and compensation to Sept. 11 responders at Ground Zero. The legislation would help ailing police officers, firefighters, telecom workers and others – including many CWA members -- who were on the ground in the earliest days following Sept. 11.

Coburn, taking advantage of the broken Senate rules, has pledged to try to block the bill by forcing up to three votes on whether Senators will even agree to discuss the bill. That means several days or more would be required just to move the bill to the Senate floor and begin debate.

Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) made changes in the bill’s funding to win more support, but the measure continued to lack of the 60 votes needed to begin debate.

The bill would create a 10-year program to treat and monitor individuals with medical conditions that resulted from exposure to toxic dust and other materials at the sites of the terrorist attacks or during debris removal. It would also reopen enrollment in a fund that provides money to those injured during the attack or debris removal, and to the families of those who died during the attacks.