[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 98 (Wednesday, June 12, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3332-S3333]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



              September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act

  Now, on another matter, Mr. President, just now Members of the House

[[Page S3333]]

Judiciary Committee unanimously passed a bill to address the shortfall 
in the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, which provides aid to 
the heroes and the families of the heroes who rushed to the towers 
selflessly on September 11, 2001.
  Even in a divided Congress, even in a divided country, this issue is 
an absolute issue of moral clarity. On that fateful day, the men and 
women of the New York Fire Department, the New York Police Department, 
the EMS, and the construction labor unions who rushed to Ground Zero 
were like our soldiers. Like our soldiers, they rushed to danger for 
our safety without thinking of their own, and just as we don't leave 
soldiers on the battlefield behind, we must not leave the brave first 
responders behind when it comes to their healthcare. Yet, shamefully, 
it has always been a struggle here in this Congress to abide by that 
principle.
  I have lived through the years when everyone said the first 
responders are getting respiratory illnesses and cancers they hadn't 
seen in such young people. They said they were crazy for thinking that 
it came from the pile. I lived through the years when, even though the 
science eventually confirmed that 9/11 was the cause, some in Congress 
complained that it was too expensive to provide these heroes with the 
healthcare they so very needed. Then, some said: This is a New York 
issue, and we are not going to help--as if we care about where our 
soldiers come from when they die on the battlefield.
  After years of struggle, we eventually passed a healthcare program, 
but, initially, it wasn't even permanent. We have to fight every time 
when there is a problem, every time we need an extension, and every 
time it needs more funding. It is a painful and slow process, a 
difficult process, one that should never have been the way it has been. 
Every single one of the times, those brave first responders have had to 
come here to testify, wheeling through the halls of Congress, their 
bodies riddled with cancer, to beg Senators and Congressmen to help 
them get their healthcare.
  My good friend, my dear friend Ray Pfeiffer--God bless his memory--
who knew he was dying, would come down here again and again and again, 
not for himself--he knew it was too late for him--but to make sure his 
friends and their families got the help they needed.
  It is shameful--there is no other word for it; shameful--that our 
great first responders have had to suffer the indignity of delay after 
delay after delay, of searching for some must-pass bill to tuck their 
issue into because this Congress, this Senate, did not think it was 
important enough to pass it on its own.
  Let me tell you something. We are done with that. We are not doing 
this again--not this time. The House Judiciary Committee just passed 
the fix to the Victim's Compensation Fund. The full House will follow 
suit soon.
  As soon as the House passes this bill, it should be on the floor of 
the Senate immediately as a stand-alone bill.
  Once this bill passes the House, there will be only one person who 
stands between the brave first responders now suffering from cancer and 
illness and the money they need to save or extend their lives, and that 
one person is Leader McConnell.
  So I say to Leader McConnell: This is not politics. This is not a 
game. These are our heroes--American heroes who are suffering and need 
our help. Your help, Leader McConnell, is needed now. I am imploring, 
pleading, even begging to Leader McConnell to put this bill on the 
floor immediately after it passes the House. I am imploring, I am 
pleading, I am begging Leader McConnell to give us a commitment today 
that, as soon as the House passes this bill, he will put it on the 
floor of the Senate as a stand-alone bill.
  Once he puts it on the floor of the Senate, it will pass the Senate 
with strong bipartisan support. This is not a Democratic or Republican 
issue. The President will sign it. The brave heroes who have come down 
here time and again will breathe a sigh of relief, knowing they and 
their families, even if they are gone, will get the help they deserve.
  We will reach the point soon--most likely this year--when more will 
have died from 9/11 related illnesses than on 9/11 itself. It has been 
over 17 years since 9/11, but, unfortunately, brave Americans are still 
dying. Brave Americans are still finding the cancers that were caused 
by their rushing to the pile, but only discovering them now. Let's do 
our job. Let's take care of them now.