Source: http://www.1010wins.com/pages/599748.php?contentType=4&contentId=625724

Posted: Wednesday, 20 June 2007 10:41AM

Top White House Aide Defends Handling of 9/11 Air Problems

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A top White House official on Wednesday defended the government's handling of post-Sept. 11 air contamination at ground zero.

"In all instances, federal agencies acted with the best available data at the time, and updated their communications and actions as new information was obtained,'' James Connaughton, head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said in prepared testimony to a Senate panel led by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Clinton, D-N.Y., has sternly criticized the government for not doing enough to protect ground zero workers and lower Manhattan residents from the tons of toxic dust released by the collapse of the World Trade Center.

An internal government investigation found the Environmental Protection Agency offered public assurances in the days after the attacks without scientific data to back up those claims.

Source: http://www.nypost.com/seven/03192007/news/regionalnews/hill_in_9_11_shop_chop_at_w__regionalnews_stephanie_gaskell__post_c...

HILL IN 9/11 'SHOP' CHOP AT W.

By STEPHANIE GASKELL, Post Correspondent

March 19, 2007 -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton last night used a celeb-studded Midtown fund-raiser to blast President Bush for telling New Yorkers to "go shopping" after 9/11.

Clinton, introduced at the event by ex-prez hubby Bill, said Bush should have played a bigger role as the nation - and New York, in particular - struggled to heal.

"What were we asked to do? Go shopping," she said. "I think America is ready to be asked to do something besides 'go shopping.'

"We are still waiting to be asked to play a part."

At a news conference a day after the terrorist attacks, Bush declared, "We cannot let the terrorists achieve the objective of frightening our nation to the point where we don't conduct business, where people don't shop."

Clinton raised more than $1 million last night at the Sheraton New York Hotel where participants included Ron Howard, Chevy Chase and Ron Perelman.