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Jon Stewart did not really appreciate his visits to Washington.
"I would say that between, say, eating ice cream in a lounge chair during a Knicks match against hell, it has tilted towards the side of hell," he said. said Stewart in an interview with the Daily News.
Still, the former host of the "Daily Show" is back at Capitol Hill on Monday for the same reason that he went there almost four years ago: thousands of first responders from 9/11, Victims and their families are facing dark cuts in a program designed to help them. and Congress must act on their behalf.
In 2015, while James Zadroga 9/11's Health and Compensation Act was about to end, Stewart toured Congress Halls with first responders to pass a new law to help police officers, firefighters, volunteers and other sick people. September 2001 terrorist attacks.
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Congress relaunched the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund in 2015, endowed with $ 7.375 billion to cover claims until December 2020. But $ 5 billion has already been paid out to more than 20,000 people suffering from cancer, respiratory problems and trauma caused by terrorists passing through the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
On February 15, Rupa Bhattacharyya, the special mistress who manages the fund, announced that the fund is running out of money due to an increase in the number of deaths and cancers, it would reduce payments half or more.
The first responders had to make hundreds of visits to the Capitol Hill offices, accompanied by canes, wheelchairs and oxygen tanks, for Congress to take action. Stewart's job is to highlight their efforts.
The 2015 bill nearly failed when various lawmakers tried to use it as leverage to pass less popular articles.
"I just hope that there is a sense of urgency and that they can do it autonomously [bill], and not having to worry about all this nonsense and all the horse trading, "said Stewart.
During Stewart's decade of working with stakeholders, he came close to many of them and stayed in touch. He praised Firefighter Ray Pfeifer in 2017
Stewart watched Pfeifer die of cancer, loaded with wheelchairs, including one of a worker's widow, and drugs in vans to organize lobbying trips with groups organized by 9/11 defender John Feal.
The fact that people like Pfeifer have had to go to Congress is one of the reasons why Stewart is going back to retirement.
"It's hard not to be angry. Difficult not to [be]I think stunned and angry, "said Stewart. "You can not believe it's real. It's like the idea that these guys, that Feal is getting them into a van that can carry wheelchairs, so that guys with stage 4 cancer can come back to plead their case – that's Is embarrassing. "
Despite this, dozens of them will gather Monday in congressional office buildings to plead their case.
In 2015, the question Stewart heard at each of the offices visited was: how are we going to pay for this? He thinks the funding should have stopped being a problem when Republicans took control of the government in 2016.
"As soon as they got the power, they first gave a tax cut of $ 1,500 billion to the highest earners, as well as a reduction in the amount of tax. corporate tax, "said Stewart. "So do not talk about financing or pay-fors."
According to the most modest estimates, the total funding of the Victims Compensation Fund will cost about $ 8 billion. This figure caught Stewart's attention on February 15 when Bhattacharyya announced the cuts shortly after Trump declared the national emergency for the construction of a wall at the southern border of the United States .
Trump asked for $ 8 billion for a wall. He said that the military and Congress had spent so much money on border security that it would have no trouble transferring funds to pay for the wall.
"At the same time, letters were sent to the families of the first responders on September 11, telling us that we are reducing your premium," said Stewart. "How do these two things exist in the same universe?"
According to Stewart, the real urgency is for people who need help from the Victims Fund.
"How can we let them struggle and suffer?" Asked Stewart. "It's a real – a national emergency, if you will.
Although the famous comedian and filmmaker knows that journalists and cameras will stand in his place, he hopes they will tell the story of the men and women who stand by his side.
"Then it becomes real for people," said Stewart. "They realize that it's the fight on the ground for the families of the people we tout as heroes all the time."
And perhaps for the first time since September 11, Congress and the President will pass a law that will finally allow these people to rest.
"When can they stop fighting?" Stewart asked. "If you think about when it happened, they fought, to save as many people as possible. After. they were fighting to find the remains of their brothers and sisters and their family members in order to try to bring some peace to people. "
Then the interveners started to get sick and fought to convince officials that detective James Zadroga, who gave his name to the law and who had the glass in his throat, really died of the 9/11 attacks.
"These guys had to fight again and again against their own government, while watching the tributes to their courage and heroism, [while] everyone wavers the flag for them but does not deliver when they need it, "said Stewart.
He wants this moment to be different.
"I hope this is not part of the cyclical drama of this place," Stewart said. "That they are able to see it with the right amount of urgency. And sincerity. "
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