[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 34 (Monday, February 25, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S1414]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   VICTIMS OF 9/11 COMPENSATION FUND

  Mr. SCHUMER. Finally--and this time it is finally, I say to my good 
friend from Nebraska--I turn the attention of my colleagues to a 
harrowing fact: We are vastly approaching the point where more people 
will have died from exposure to toxic chemicals on 9/11 than were 
killed on 9/11 itself. These are the first responders, firefighters, 
police, and FBI agents who rushed to the towers that fateful day, ran 
into the fire, smoke, and twisted steel, risking their lives and, 
later, we learned, risking their health to get people out. These are 
the union members and construction workers who worked at the pile, 
breathing in a toxic blend of ash and dust in the days and weeks and 
months that followed. These are the people, the innocents, who lived 
downtown when the United States was attacked in the most dastardly 
attack on American soil.
  Right now we have a problem. While these folks are heroes and, sadly, 
many are suffering--because of the alarming number who are suffering 
from 9/11-related illnesses, the victim compensation fund is running 
out of money earlier than expected. The Justice Department recently 
announced that it might have to cut compensation awards between 50 and 
70 percent.
  So today I was proud to join Senators Gillibrand and Gardner, as well 
as a group of our colleagues in the House, to introduce legislation to 
fix the shortfall of funding and put the victims' compensation fund on 
sure footing for the foreseeable future.
  I urge all of my colleagues, Democrat and Republican alike, to sign 
on and help us pass this bill and give some hope to the thousands who 
were brave on 9/11 and who are suffering now.
  I yield the floor.

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