Trump signs 9/11 victim fund extension
Plan brings $10.2 billion for first responder care
WASHINGTON – Calling it a “solemn duty” to the nation’s bravest people, President Donald Trump signed a bill Monday to provide billions in health care compensation for police officers, firefighters and other first responders to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“You inspire all of humanity,” Trump told a group of first responders gathered in the Rose Garden for the signing ceremony.
While praising the police, firefighters, and emergency personnel who raced to the World Trade Center after the plane crashes that later collapsed the buildings, Trump also referenced himself.
“I was down there also,” the former New York City businessman said. “But I’m not considering myself a first responder.”
Trump also singled out some of the responders by name. He saluted former New York police detective Luis Alvarez, who testified to Congress about the need for the bill that now bears his name. Alvarez died last month after a battle of cancer he said developed because he worked three months in the smoke, dust and fumes of ground zero.
His testimony “touched the heart of our nation,” Trump said.
The Senate last week gave final approval to the plan to replenish the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund by $10.2 billion over the next ten years.
The vote ended weeks of congressional debate over the size of the compensation plan, which benefits first responders who developed respiratory and other illnesses from the toxic fumes of the destroyed World Trade Center buildings. The compensation fund has been drawn down to the point where awards have been cut in half amid uncertainty over how much money Congress would provide.
Claims are expected to exceed 22,000 from emergency personnel who worked at ground zero after 9/11.
Proponents ranging from New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand to former “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart said the nation still owes a debt of thanks to the the families of the dead and injured.
“We can never repay the 9/11 community for what they’ve done, but we can stop penalizing them,” Stewart said this week. “There have been too many funerals, too many hospices . ... Their facilities deserve better.”
Stewart did not attend the White House ceremony.
The bill became a political talking point after Stewart and 9/11 first responders delivered emotional testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on June 11.
Alvarez, the retired New York Police Department detective, told of his battle with cancer and his dozens of rounds of chemotherapy.
“You all said you would never forget,” he told the House Judiciary Committee. “Well, I’m here to make sure that you don’t.”
Alvarez died two weeks later.