Trump signs Sept. 11 victims’ compensation fund extension
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday signed a bill ensuring that a victims’ compensation fund helping those impacted by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks never runs out of money, ending years of legislative gridlock as the number of first responders dying of ground zero- related illnesses mounted.
Appearing in the Rose Garden with more than 60 first responders from the 2001 terrorist attacks, Mr. Trump signed into law an extension of the fund through 2092, essentially making it permanent.
“You inspire all of humanity,” Mr. Trump said of the “true American warriors” who rushed to assist victims that day and searched for remains for months after.
The president said the nation has a “sacred obligation” to care for the responders and their families.
The $ 7.4 billion fund had been rapidly depleting, and administrators recently cut benefit payments by up to 70%. The bill passed Congress on a bipartisan basis, but only after delays by some Republicans exposed the legislative branch to brutal criticism from activists, including comedian Jon Stewart.
Dozens of first responders, many
gravely ill, would repeatedly travel to Washington to lobby lawmakers to extend the funding every time it needed to be reauthorized. Though their ranks shrunk, as emergency workers died of cancers and other diseases linked to the toxic fumes from the World Trade Center rubble, the fate of the funding had never been permanently guaranteed.
Retired NYPD Detective Luis Alvarez appeared gaunt and ill when he testified before Congress last month, urging lawmakers to pass the measure to help his fellow first responders even if it was too late for him.
“You made me come down here the day before my 69th round of chemo, and I’m going to make sure that you never forget to take care of the 9/ 11 first responders,” Detective Alvarez said. He died two weeks later. More than 40,000 people have applied to the fund, which covers illnesses potentially related to being at the World Trade Center site, the Pentagon or Shanksville, Pa., after the attacks. Mr. Stewart, who made the cause a personal passion project, tore into the lawmakers when he testified alongside Detective Alvarez in a moment that was replayed on cable news.
“Hundreds died in an instant. Thousands more poured in to continue to fight for their brothers and sisters,” Mr. Stewart said. “They did their jobs with courage, grace, tenacity, humility. Eighteen years later, do yours.”
A pair of Republican senators, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah, voted against the measure, preventing its adoption from being unanimous. Both cited the need to eliminate unnecessary spending and offset the measure with budget cuts.
Mr. Trump did not dwell on that division when he signed the bill. The signing prompted a round of applause from first responders in the Rose Garden, as well as Mr. Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who was mayor of New York City during the attacks and was widely praised for his leadership in the aftermath.
Mr. Trump played up his own connection Monday to the World Trade Center site, saying, “I was down there also, but I’m not considering myself a first responder.”
But a number of the president’s recollections about his personal experiences that day are questionable, including claims that he sent construction crews to help clear the site, that he had “hundreds” of friends die at ground zero, and that he witnessed TV coverage of Muslims in the U. S. cheering the destruction of the iconic skyscrapers.
The ceremony was attended by a few lawmakers — all Republican — though a White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said all members of Congress were invited.
But Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D- N. Y., who sponsored the legislation in the House, said she “never received [ an invitation]. And I looked at all of my emails.” Still, she said she was “just pleased that it was signed into law. It is a great day for America. It is above politics.”