by LACHLAN CARTWRIGHT
The city's $657 million settlement offer to sick 9/11 rescue workers isn't nearly enough, federal lawmakers said yesterday -- as they instead pushed a bill to give Ground Zero heroes health care for life.
The $11 billion James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act -- named for a New York cop who died in 2006 after inhaling toxic World Trade Center dust -- is set for a crucial House subcommittee vote tomorrow.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan/Astoria), co-author of the bill with Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan/Brooklyn), said at a Ground Zero rally that the legislation would give continuing health care -- not just a one-time payment -- to "the thousands and thousands who lost their health at the World Trade Center."
"They were there for us; this is the least we can do for them," she said, calling the move "a moral imperative" even as one Ground Zero worker called the city's proposed pact "an insult."
"This country owes it to those who have become sick as a result of 9/11," said John Feal, a demolition supervisor who lost part of a foot at Ground Zero and now advocates for rescue workers through the FealGood Foundation.
And Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch called attention to first responders who "are on their couches now [and] cannot breathe."
"The federal government," he said, "needs to take its responsibility seriously."
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