§28 —
On the twenty-fifth
Democrat
135,000
And here is the qualifier, because the same twelve months hold it. The program treats more than 135,000 people for illnesses traced to what they breathed at the attack sites 1. Through this past winter it was running roughly a quarter short of staff — down from 93 to 84, with close to a third of its authorized positions vacant and a government-wide hiring freeze making them unfillable 1. Treatment authorizations backed up. Enrollments waited.
It took both of New York's senators pressing the department in writing, and the governor publicly calling for the staff to be restored, before the freeze was lifted in April and the program returned to full staffing for the first time in more than a year 2. So the promise was funded through 2040 in February and could not be answered by a person in January. Both of those are the record. The ceremony is free and it is right and it happens every year. The payroll is the part that has to be asked for, in writing, by two senators and a governor, twenty-five years after the morning.
Sources
- The program serves more than 135,000 people; staffing fell from 93 to 84, with roughly 30 percent of its 120 authorized positions vacant and the program operating about 25 percent short amid a hiring freeze, backlogging treatment authorizations — FireRescue1 ↑
- Both New York senators pressed the department over the staffing cuts, and the governor publicly called for restoration of the program's staff; the hiring freeze was lifted and the program returned to full staffing for the first time in over a year — Office of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand ↑
Republican
THROUGH 2040
The vote deserves to be said first and said plainly, because it was the hard part and it got done. The World Trade Center Health Program was facing a shortfall running as high as $3 billion over ten years. In February the House took a final vote locking the program's funding in through 2040, and the shortfall closed 1.
That is not a small thing and it was not automatic. Permanent funding means a responder diagnosed in 2034 is covered by a decision made now, rather than by whichever Congress happens to be sitting when the diagnosis comes. It is the version of "never forget" that costs money and survives past a news cycle, and the members who moved it — from a New York delegation that has had to relitigate this program roughly every five years since the Zadroga Act — got the thing that actually protects people. Today is the day to say so without a qualifier attached.
Sources
“The twenty-fifth. Two documents, and today I'm only reading them. First: in February the House locked the World Trade Center Health Program's funding through 2040 and closed a shortfall that ran as high as three billion over a decade. That's the promise, funded, and it was the right vote. Second: through this past winter the program was working a quarter short — staffing down from ninety-three to eighty-four, close to a third of its authorized positions empty, hiring frozen government-wide so the gaps could not be filled. Treatment authorizations backed up. In April the freeze was lifted and the program came back to full staff for the first time in over a year. Sorry, one thing before you go. Both of those are true, and both happened in the same twelve months. We funded it through 2040 and could not answer the phone in January.”— Lou
“Twenty-five years today. I'm not doing a bit. The list of people still being treated for what they breathed down there runs a hundred thirty-five thousand names, and this year that program ran a quarter short on staff because of a government-wide hiring freeze, and the authorizations backed up, and people waited. Both senators wrote letters. The governor wrote letters. In April the freeze came off. It took fourteen months of letters to staff the promise we make every September. That's the whole thing I have to say today.”