First responders fund clears Senate and heads to Trump

Thousands of emergency workers who rushed to the rubble of the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11 attacks will be granted health care and other compensation for the rest of their lives. The Senate gave final approval Tuesday to legislation to care permanently for those who have grown deathly ill from the toxins of ground zero.

The bill, which heads to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature after a near-unanimous vote in the Senate, would ensure the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund is funded for the next seven decades at a cost of $10.2 billion over the next 10 years. It offers financial stability as the number of medical claims from emergency workers who worked for months in lower Manhattan after the 2001 attack surpass 22,000.

Passage was an emotional moment for emergency workers and their champion, comedian Jon Stewart, who have pressed doggedly for the legislation, even as former firefighters and police officers died before they could see victory.

“Too long we’ve waited to settle this matter,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the Senate Democratic leader, who championed the legislation along with his fellow New York Democrat, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

Gillibrand said just before the vote, “This should never have been a fight. This should never have taken this long.”

Senators rejected two amendments that attempted to curtail the measure’s price tag in the face of the federal government’s climbing deficit, even as some lawmakers fretted about the surge of deficit spending that would come from a budget deal reached Monday.

Instead, lawmakers passed the bill with few spending constraints, as a promise to survivors, their family members and advocates that they would no longer have to traipse to Washington to beg for the fund’s extension.

The legislation’s passage culminated a lengthy fight to preserve the fund and its teetering finances, as more of the emergency personnel, volunteers and survivors who inhaled toxic fumes, dust and smoke at ground zero become gravely ill.