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The former host of "The Daily Show", Jon Stewart, right, talks with Joe Zadrog, father of the late James Zadroga, first actor of September 11th. (Jim Watson / AFP / Getty Images / Jim Watson / AFP / Getty Images)
In December 2015, Kenny Specht, retired New York firefighter and first speaker for 9/11, met Jon Stewart on the show "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah".
It was the second time in five years that Specht appeared in the series to talk about Congress inaction on a bill to offset health care costs for first responders of 9/11 contracted a disease related to the toxic fumes that they inhaled by cleaning the rubble. and the recovery of the bodies at Ground Zero. The first time Specht met Stewart in 2010, he was joined by three other men.
Now they have been joined by three empty chairs.
"Just out of curiosity, where is everyone?" Asked firefighter Stewart, the former "Daily Show" host who appeared as a guest.
Since their first appearance, Specht has told him that two of the first responders have become too sick to appear. The other had died of cancer.
This thought-provoking moment was punctuated by the anger of Stewart, who has spent the last ten years repeatedly criticizing Congress for delaying the funding of health care for first responders and survivors in difficulty who risked their lives on September 11th. Stewart's fury on the issue is almost unparalleled among other public figures, emerging stronger than anyone else on Capitol Hill or in the media whenever money for care first responders' health risked evaporating.
Now he's back again, urging Congress this week to pass a new law that would permanently fund health care for first responders and survivors in 9/11. Once again, the September 11 victims' compensation fund is running out of money.
Stewart appeared this week in interviews on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC alongside John Feal, a first responder who lost his foot against an 8,000-pound steel beam and donated kidney to another first responder. Feal told CNN that he had attended 181 funerals with his fellow first responders and that he had been to Capitol Hill dozens of times to urge legislators to pay more attention to his dying friends. "There are men and women, uniform and nonuniform, panicters and survivors who panic," said Feal, "and for many, it's a lifesaver."
Stewart added, "The idea that 18 years later, they are still trying to convince the government to pass this bill and fund it properly exceeds the understanding."
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (DN.Y.) and Sense. Kirsten Gillibrand (DN.Y.) and Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Monday announced bipartisan legislation guaranteeing first responders on September 11 who become sick in the future will be covered by the Compensation Fund victims, which expires in 2020.
Last week, the special head of the Justice Department, who oversees the funds, announced that future payments could be reduced by 50 to 70 percent, stating, "I am painfully aware of the inequality of the situation. .. but the harsh reality of the data does not leave me As the fund runs out of money, said the special director, claims for compensation are increasing at unprecedented levels, as more and more people fall ill.
Congress reconstituted the compensation fund twice, in 2010 and in 2015, but both times gave it only a five-year lifeline, prompting officials to ask their elected officials to find a more permanent solution. They can seek compensation for health care from the fund through James Zadroga's 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which was extended by Congress in 2015, thanks in part to Stewart's aggressive lobbying of the New York public. servants.
The 9/11 attacks have always been personal to Stewart, who said in 2001 that he could see the World Trade Center from his lower Manhattan apartment. Nine days after the terrorist attacks claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people, Stewart appeared behind his wooden desk in "The Daily Show", seeking first to avoid the clumsiness that comes naturally with a humorous show of late night tragedy the most unfathomable. "The show tonight is obviously not a regular show," he said.
Then came an unforgettable monologue.
"Any idiot can blow something up. Any fool can destroy. But to see these guys, these firefighters, these police and people all over the country, literally, with rebuilt buckets … it's … amazing. And that's the reason we've already won, "he said, his voice breaking. It's light. It's democracy. We already won. They can not stop this. "
Years later, in 2010, Stewart would air another unforgettable Sept. 11 segment – this time in a Republican-run, congressionally inspired skit for failing to fund health care for first responders. He began by satirizing the idea that health care provided to first responders in 9/11 would be a bipartisan agreement that was easy to put into place.
But some Republicans have opposed the Zadroga law, in part, for fear of a rise in the tax on international corporations.
"Oh, there is a tax increase to pay for that? I'm sorry, I did not know they were going to try to pay the bill to provide health care to those who were suffering for their heroism with a tax, "Stewart shouted snidely.
A few weeks later, when the bill seemed hopeless after the Republicans tried to obstruct it, Stewart was on the panel of first responders. A few days later, the Senate brought the bill back to the close of the legislative session. It's gone.
"I do not even know if there was an agreement, to be honest with you, before it was broadcast," Specht told the New York Times after passing the 2010 bill. "I'll be always beholden to Jon for what he did. "
The law passed by Congress was, however, only temporary and in 2015, when the fund was due to expire and an agreement to save it still pending, Stewart returned to the corridors of Congress to hunt down Republican lawmakers. To commit to voting to extend funding, going door-to-door and taking cameras with him. He then convinced Trevor Noah, his successor to the "Daily Show", to let him return to the program.
On Monday, Stewart said that he was "beyond my understanding" why he and the first responders were still singing the same tune.
Wearing a navy blue t-shirt emblazoned with the FDNY Ladder 42 logo, he appeared at a press conference alongside first responders and Gillibrand, Schumer, Gardner and other lawmakers, and decided to address the journalists present in the room.
He said he did not want to "ask you, I just wanted to beg you" to tell the story of men and women suffering from diseases that go back to Ground Zero's emanations.
Feal, the first speaker on September 11, spoke after him, arguing that they would not be forgotten.
"I like Jon Stewart. He is my friend. But I love Kenny Specht and Rich Palmer and Michael Connor more, "said Feal." These guys are sick. These guys are dying. So we will challenge all members of Congress of this city. We will challenge their empathy. We will challenge their humanity. "
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