A Push to Include 9/11 Health in Upcoming Presidential Budget Proposal
Reps. Maloney and Fossella are joined by 25 colleagues in bipartisan call for funding, federal plan

WASHINGTON, DC – As the White House prepares an FY2008 budget proposal to be released early next year, 27 bipartisan Members of Congress are asking President Bush to include robust funding for comprehensive medical monitoring and treatment of those made sick by the toxic air around Ground Zero (letter to Bush). The group, led by Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Vito Fossella (R-NY), also urged the president to direct the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a plan for the federal response to the 9/11 Health Crisis.

“Just because the fifth anniversary of 9/11 has passed and the attention is elsewhere doesn’t mean that the 9/11 Health Crisis is going away,” said Maloney. “The men and women who breathed in the toxic air around Ground Zero will be feeling the serious effects for many years, and the federal response needs to reflect that. The federal government needs to view this as a long-term issue, as the doctors have testified, and it needs a plan that includes regular and serious funding in the federal budget to provide help to these heroes.”

Fossella said, “We have made progress over the last year to begin getting the resources necessary to help our 9/11 heroes. However, we now need a significant investment by the federal government into health monitoring and treatment for those who are sick or injured. In addition, the federal government must develop a comprehensive plan to address the health impacts of 9/11.”

In October, $52 million, the very first federal dollars for the treatment of those suffering from 9/11-related illness, was released by the Department of Health and Human Services. Secretary Michael Leavitt has acknowledged that this money was only a “down payment,” and doctors who have monitored sick responders have testified before Congress that the crisis must be viewed as a problem that will persist for a few decades, not just a few years.

Signing the letter to Bush were: Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Vito Fossella (R-NY), Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Diane Watson (D-CA), Joseph Crowley (D-NY), John Sweeney (R-NY), Brian Higgins (D-NY), Steve Israel (D-NY), Peter King (R-NY), Christopher Shays (R-CT), Tim Bishop (D-NY), Thad McCotter (R-MI), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Michael McNulty (D-NY), Howard Berman (D-CA), Jos Serrano (D-NY), Ed Towns (D-NY), Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Major Owens (D-NY), Nita Lowey (D-NY), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Chris Smith (R-NJ), John Conyers (D-MI), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Anthony Weiner (D-NY), Gregory Meeks (D-NY).