by PETER THORNE
NEW YORK (WPIX) - Politicians worked late into the night in Washington, D.C., deciding who'll foot the health care bill for thousands of first responders and others exposed to dangerous toxins in the air in the aftermath of 9/11. The legislation they were wrestling with, now considered controversial by some members of Congress, would provide comprehensive health care and compensation for people whose illness can be positively linked to the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001.
Some Republicans on the committee have criticized the bill, worried about the potential expense. disparaging the measure as an unaffordable entitlement, and fearing fraud and waste. Those are concerns that first responders like retired FDNY Chief Jim Richie told PIX News tonight he considers outrageous.
The bill is called "The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act," and it is named for a first responder who spent hundreds of hours at ground zero and later got sick and died.
Congress later determined that "thousands of rescue workers, local residents, (office and other area workers), and school children continue to suffer significant medical problems as a result of compromised air quality after the attack."
The bills sponsors note that "almost 70 percent of World Trade Center responders had a new or worsened respiratory symptom that developed during or after their time working at the World Trade Center; among the responders who were asymptomatic before 9/11, 61 percent developed respiratory symptoms while working at the World Trade Center."
In a recent news release, New York Representative Carolyn Maloney said, "too many of those who are sick from 9/11 have suffered without help for too long - but we in the New York delegation haven't forgotten our promise to provide care for those who lost their health because of the attacks on America."
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