James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act Passes the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives

On December 22, with the urging of the AFL-CIO, several unions (including CWA, IAFF, AFSCME, and the Laborers) and the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives voted to pass legislation that would fund medical monitoring and treatment for emergency workers who responded to the World Trade Center site after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, to workers involved in the demolition and cleanup, and to nearby residents. Also eligible for compensation under the bill are the first responders who performed cleanup after the attacks on the Pentagon and the plane crash in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

 

Following the unanimous vote by the Senate, the House of Representatives passed the Senate version of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. (In September, the House passed a more comprehensive version of the bill, H.R. 847.) Early this morning, January 3, 2011, President Obama signed the legislation, thereby putting it into effect.

 

Senate Republicans who threatened to filibuster the bill agreed to the legislation after Senators Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) negotiated a compromise whereby costs were slashed by $6.2 billion in the original Senate version to $4.3 billion over six years. Of that amount, $2.8 billion will go to the victims compensation fund, with $800 million made available in the first five years, and $2 billion being freed up in year six. In addition, $1.5 billion will go to health care over five years while any remaining money will be spent in the sixth year of the program. New York City is responsible for 10 percent of the bill's health care costs.

 

Also, the Senate altered funding for the bill from the version passed by the House in September. The legislation passed yesterday levies a 2-percent fee on government procurement from foreign companies located in countries that have not signed the World Trade Organization Government Procurement Agreement and a one-year extension on H-B1 and L-1 visa fees for outsourcing countries. The bill would expand the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program, which cares for more than 55,000 enrollees and is funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. NIOSH has identified numerous respiratory and gastrointestinal system conditions such as asthma, interstitial lung fibrosis, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and mental health conditions. The measure would also reopen the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund to help pay for economic losses and harm suffered by those in the attacks as an alternative to the current litigation system.

 

Of note, the bill was opposed by U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other industry groups.

 

In a joint statement, Senators Schumer and Gillibrand called the deal a “Christmas miracle.”

 

“Today's bipartisan approval of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act by the United States Senate affirms our nation's commitment to protecting those who protect us all,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) added in a written statement. “I want to congratulate and thank the House of Representatives for putting aside their differences and finding common ground on one of the most fundamental issues of justice facing our nation today.”

 

“This day has been a long time coming,” New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health Executive Director Joel Shufro said in a statement. “Thousands of men and women who labored selflessly in the rescue and recovery effort after the terrorist attacks have fallen ill from toxic exposures. They need and deserve the nation's help in covering their treatment costs and compensating them for their losses.”