[ad_1]
WASHINGTON (AP) – Comedian Jon Stewart criticized Congress on Tuesday for failing to ensure that a victims' compensation fund set up after the September 11 attacks never runs out of time. 39; money.
Stewart, a long-time supporter of September 11 advocates, urged legislators not to attend a hearing on a bill to ensure the fund can pay benefits for the next 70 years. Stewart said the "sick and dying" first responders and their families traveled to Washington for the hearing, to deal with an almost desperate platform.
The weak presence of lawmakers was "a hindrance to the country and a blemish on this institution," Stewart said, adding that the "lack of respect" shown to first responders suffering from respiratory diseases and other diseases "is totally unacceptable".
Lawmakers on both sides said that they supported the bill and were monitoring the audience in the midst of other congressional business.
The representative of the Republic, Mike Johnson, predicted that the bill would be passed with overwhelming support and that lawmakers would show no disrespect as they entered and exited the government. Subcommittee hearing, a current event at Capitol Hill.
Stewart was not convinced.
Pointing at the rows of firefighters and uniformed police officers behind him, he stated that the audience should be "reversed", so that the first responders are on the platform, the members of Congress "sitting here" under the chairmanship of witnesses answering their questions.
In the first place, said Stewart, families want to know, "Why is this so hard and takes so long?
The collapse of the World Trade Center in September 2001 sent a thick cloud of dust over Lower Manhattan. The fires burned for weeks. Thousands of construction workers, police, firefighters and others worked with soot, often without proper respiratory protection.
Since then, many have seen their health deteriorate, some suffering from respiratory or digestive disorders appeared almost immediately, others of diseases evolving as they age, including cancer.
More than 40,000 people have applied to the September 11th Victims' Compensation Fund, which covers diseases potentially linked to the World Trade Center site, the Pentagon or Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after the attacks. More than $ 5 billion in benefits were awarded to the $ 7.4 billion fund, with approximately 21,000 claims pending.
Stewart and other stakeholders lamented that nearly 18 years after the attacks, first responders and their families still have no assurance that the fund will not run out of money. The Department of Justice said in February that the fund was running out and benefits paid were reduced by 70%.
"The fact is that we are spending the available funds faster than expected, and that the number of claims for compensation exceeds expectations," said Rupa Bhattacharyya, the fund's special mistress. In total, 835 grants were reduced to May 31, she said.
Stewart called it shameful.
"Your indifference costs these men and women their most precious asset: time," he told lawmakers. "It's something they'll miss."
Firefighters, police and other first responders "have done their job with courage, grace, tenacity and humility," said Stewart. "Eighteen years later, do yours."
The Speaker of the Judiciary of the House, Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat whose district includes the World Trade Center site, said that a 70% reduction – or any reduced compensation – of the victims of the 11 September "is simply intolerable, and Congress should not allow it.
Just as the Americans "united as a nation in the days following September 11, 2001, and just as we united together in 2010 and 2015 to license and fund these vital programs, we must now unite our efforts so that the heroes of the 9/11 attacks are not abandoned when they need us most, "said Nadler.
[ad_2]
Source link