Pay the debt

Freedom, liberty, independence and sacrifice are all part of the national celebration of July 4. They are also all part of another day of national significance, 9/11, when thousands were murdered by enemies of the United States attacking this city and this country. The suffering and death did not end that day. It has lingered all these years as the toxins in the grey plume that smothered downtown continue to cause cancer and other ailments in the thousands of responders and others caught in the ash cloud. While Congress rightly created a permanent World Trade Center Health Program in 2015 after a long struggle, it is underfunded and will have to start rationing medical care for the heroes and survivors of 9/11.

The toll is only growing, as soon the 343 Fire Department fatalities on 9/11 will be eclipsed by the deaths of FDNY members from WTC-related diseases.

The additional $3 billion to ensure the finest health care for stricken firefighters and police officers and ordinary folks suffering is part of the

Democrats’ long-stalled Build Back Better that President Biden proposed. But with BBB passage unlikely in the Senate, fully funding the WTC Health Program must be a priority. If Majority Leader Chuck Schumer can win approval of a slimmed-down package from holdout Joe Manchin, that could do it. If not, Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand must use another vehicle to pass the WTC money this year. We daresay that it would pass the Senate overwhelmingly, if not unanimously.

The same goes for the House, where Manhattan’s Carolyn Maloney and Jerry Nadler have worked on this for years and now are joined by Long Island freshman Andrew Garbarino. Jersey’s Frank Pallone, chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, put the money in BBB. He now needs to find another path to get it to the floor for Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The last time the Democrats had both houses of Congress and the White House, in 2010, they only passed 9/11 legislation after they lost big in the midterms. Don’t make the same mistake again.