Senators Gillibrand and Schumer may join forces today to ask their Congressional colleagues for unanimous consent to vote on reauthorizing the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act writes Brian J. (GNS) Tumulty in the Poughkeepsie Journal on December 2, 2015.
Gillibrand recently dropped her demand to extend the Fund on a permanent basis, compromising by accepting a five-year extension of Zadroga, provided that it is fully funded and the World Trade Center Health Program is made permanent.
“It was an area of negotiation,’’ she said. “If we had both funds become permanent it would have been several billion dollars more. But we talked to the survivors. We talked to the first responders. And they agreed that fully funding five years would meet the needs of most. So that was our compromise. And so we compromised with the House leadership as long as it is fully funded.’’
Other options would be to insert Zadroga into either a tax extenders bill or a year-end omnibus spending bill later this month. If Zadroga does not pass before Congress adjourns, the situation for the World Trade Center Health Program will be extremely bleak.
