[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 17]
[House]
[Pages 23694-23701]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               THE TIME IS NOW TO SUPPORT HEROES OF 9/11

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 18, 2007, the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mrs. MALONEY of New York. I thank the Speaker from the great State of 
New York for yielding me this time on this incredibly important issue.
  And, Mr. Speaker, as we approach the sixth anniversary of the tragic 
events of September 11, I appreciate the opportunity to speak today 
about one of the most important issues facing my

[[Page 23695]]

district, my hometown of New York City and our Nation.
  I am so proud to be here today with my colleague and good friend from 
Manhattan, Jerry Nadler, who has been a tireless advocate for everyone 
who has become sick from the toxins of 9/11. His district includes 
Ground Zero, and our work together on this issue can truly move this 
forward.
  I want to note that a number of New Yorkers will be with me today, 
Congressman Fossella, Yvette Clarke, John Hall, Eliot Engel, and Steve 
Israel, if he was not in the Chair being the Speaker, he would be down 
here on the floor talking about the 6 men and women from 9/11 who need 
our help, and possibly Chairman Pallone.
  Mr. Speaker, the death toll from 9/11 is still growing, and the 
nightmare of that day has continued for thousands of our fellow 
Americans who are suffering with illnesses and injuries caused by the 
attacks, but are not getting the help they need.
  When people hear that the men and women who rushed in to save the 
lives of others on that terrible day, who worked to clean up the site, 
who worked in construction, I remember that day there were signs 
everywhere, ``iron workers, report for duty,'' retired workers, all 
workers to the site. These men and women rushed to the site thinking of 
others, not of themselves; and many of them are sick and they need our 
help now.
  The collapse of the World Trade Center towers took nearly 3,000 lives 
in an instant and released a massive cloud of asbestos, pulverized 
concrete and other poisons. These toxins have sickened thousands and 
have killed at least eight, but likely dozens more Americans, in the 
years since 9/11.
  On 9/11, 500 of my neighbors and constituents lost their lives. That 
was more than any other district. We lost up to 3,000 people, but 
thousands and thousands more lost their health; and we need to be there 
to help them now.
  The gray dust that billowed through Lower Manhattan that day is said 
to have been as caustic as drain cleaner. It settled in the homes of 
Lower Manhattan, in downtown schools, playgrounds and parks, and in the 
lungs of tens of thousands of Americans. These forgotten victims of 9/
11 either lived or worked downtown, courageously volunteered for rescue 
and recovery operations at Ground Zero, or merely happened to be in 
Lower Manhattan, a school child, a worker, on one of the worst mornings 
our country has ever known. And right now, more than 6,500 responders, 
truly the heroes and heroines of 9/11, are being treated for 9/11-
related health problems through the federally funded World Trade Center 
Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program. And more than 5,000 have been 
referred for mental health care, often for conditions like post-
traumatic stress syndrome. Every month, another 500 to 1,000 responders 
sign up for health monitoring, and those coming in are more sick than 
ever before.
  In all, more than 70,000 Americans reported to the World Trade Center 
Health Registry, and they were near Ground Zero in the days following 
9/11 and have serious concerns about their health.
  As you would expect, the majority of those registered are from New 
York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. But what many people may not know is 
that more than 10,000 Americans from outside the tri-state area have 
also signed up for the registry. Amazingly, every single State and 431 
of the 435 congressional districts nationwide have someone in the World 
Trade Center Registry in New York City. This is a health emergency on a 
national scale, and it requires a strong Federal response.
  This Saturday at Ground Zero, many of us on the floor here this 
afternoon will be joining the working men and women of New York City's 
labor movement in a rally to send a message loud and clear that the 
time is now to support our heroes of 9/11. Six years is long enough.
  Along with the New York State AFL-CIO, the New York City Central 
Labor Council and the Building and Construction Trades Council, we will 
be showing honor, support and respect for the contributions and 
sacrifices of the heroes and heroines of 9/11. And we will be rallying 
for action from the government to care for the thousands of people who 
have become sick because of the toxins of Ground Zero.
  With the strong support of the AFL-CIO, Representative Nadler and I 
are preparing to introduce, along with Congressman Fossella and many 
others, new comprehensive legislation to do just that. The 9/11 Health 
and Compensation Act will ensure that everyone exposed to the Ground 
Zero toxins has a right to be medically monitored, and all who are sick 
as a result have a right for treatment.
  It will build on the expertise of the Centers for Excellence, which 
are currently providing high-quality care to thousands of responders 
and ensuring an ongoing data collection and analysis, expanding care to 
the entire exposed community.
  The bill also includes care for area residents, workers, and school 
children, as well as the thousands of people that came from across the 
country to assist with recovery and clean-up efforts.
  Finally, it provides compensation for economic damages and loss by 
reopening the September 11, 2001 Victims Compensation Fund. I have been 
working for years to make this happen, along with all of the members of 
the New York delegation. And I am very proud to be working with 
Representative Nadler, with the strong support of the New York AFL-CIO, 
to move this comprehensive, bipartisan bill through Congress.
  We are united as a delegation; we are united with labor; we are 
united at the various levels of government, and we are truly committed. 
We will not stop, and we will continue to work every single day and 
hour to make sure that this happens. Six years, six long years is long 
enough for the men and women who are sick because they rushed into 
burning buildings to save the lives of others, to work on a deadly pile 
where the toxins infected their lungs.
  Once again, the 9/11 health crisis is a national emergency that was 
caused by an attack on our country. Only the Federal Government has the 
resources and the reach to properly address the health and compensation 
needs of thousands of Americans from across this Nation whose health 
was compromised by the World Trade Center attacks.
  I must say that we would not have moved forward as we have with some 
funding and some help without the complete support of the Democratic 
leadership. Chairman Obey, who has put money in the appropriations 
bill, Speaker  Nancy Pelosi, who has met with the sick and injured 
workers many, many times here in the Capitol, along with Majority 
Leader Steny Hoyer and others. This is a united Democratic and 
Republican effort to help the sick people that are sick because of the 
attack on America.
  The solutions I have outlined this afternoon are neither easy nor 
inexpensive, but they are part of our country's moral obligation. As 
the wealthiest country in the world, it is our duty to care for those 
who responded to an act of war. These were the first veterans of the 
act of war. They are veterans; they should be treated with health care. 
We must take care of the people who took care of us following 9/11. 
Many risked their lives, and many, many more risked their health. It is 
the least we can do as a grateful Nation. The time to act is now. Six 
years is long enough.
  I would now like to recognize my colleague and dear friend from the 
Lower East Side who has been a tireless advocate for everyone who has 
become sick from the toxins. His district includes Ground Zero. And our 
work together on this issue can truly move this issue forward.
  Congressman Nadler is recognized for 5 minutes.

                              {time}  1545

  Mr. NADLER. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. I must say that I 
am from the Upper West Side, not the Lower East Side, although my 
district does cover part of the Lower East Side, and that is certainly 
no insult.
  Mrs. MALONEY of New York. We are all in it together, East Side, West 
Side, all around the town. All around the Nation, really.

[[Page 23696]]


  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I do thank the gentlewoman for yielding. I 
want to thank her for her leadership on this issue. I am pleased that 
we will soon be introducing legislation together to provide long-term 
health care to all the first responders, residents, area workers and 
students who have become sick as a result of the collapse of the World 
Trade Center. Our legislation will build on the efforts of the Centers 
of Excellence of New York City and will extend to people who came from 
all over the country to aid in the massive rescue and recovery effort 
after 9/11.
  When the World Trade Center collapsed on that sunny morning 6 years 
ago, a plume of poisonous dust blanketed lower Manhattan, and not just 
Lower Manhattan, but parts of Brooklyn and possibly Jersey City, too. 
The cloud was a toxic mixture of lead, dioxin, asbestos, mercury, 
benzene, PCBs and other hazardous contaminants that swirled around the 
site where the World Trade Center once stood. The cloud blanketed the 
area as rescue and recovery workers worked around the clock. Many did 
so without adequate or without any protective gear. Thousands of first 
responders inhaled this poisonous dust before it settled onto and into 
countless homes, shops and office buildings in the area.
  For the past 6 years, we have demanded that the EPA fulfill its legal 
mandate to protect the public health by telling the truth about post-9/
11 air quality and by implementing a scientifically sound testing and 
cleanup program to address indoor contamination. They have absolutely 
failed on both fronts.
  While America watched these brave men and women working fearlessly at 
the World Trade Center site, their government failed them and continues 
to fail them. As the Nation and the world united in solidarity, our 
government, this administration, put politics over science and safety.
  Federal law mandates that when there is a terrorist attack in which 
toxins are released into the air, both the Environmental Protection 
Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration have 
specific responsibilities. EPA is charged with the cleanup and is the 
lead agency to deal with the pollution. The American public deserves to 
know why and how that did not happen. We are getting some answers 
though, painstakingly.
  As Chair of the Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil 
Liberties, I chaired a hearing in June on the failures of the Federal 
Government in responding to the environmental crisis that resulted from 
the World Trade Center attacks. Senator Clinton held a companion 
hearing in the Senate. At the hearing we heard for the first time from 
Christine Todd Whitman, the former administrator of the EPA, who said 
her agency did nothing wrong, that they were honest with the public and 
that they listened to their scientists. But we know that EPA lied and 
to this day continues lying. We know that early tests revealed high 
levels of asbestos and other toxins and that EPA in statements vetted 
through the White House misled the public with their assurances that 
the air was safe to breathe. Independent scientists who testified in 
the hearing said that no amount of asbestos should be considered safe 
and that everyone knew that those buildings contained asbestos, 
hundreds of thousands of pounds of it before the buildings collapsed 
and released it into the air.
  Indeed, there is no doubt that thousands of people are sick as a 
result of the contamination at the World Trade Center. Thousands of 
people are sick who would not be sick today if they had not been lied 
to by their own government and worked without protection on the pile 
for 13 and 14 and 15 weeks.
  A study by Mount Sinai Hospital found that 70 percent of the more 
than 9,000 first responders who were studied suffered health problems 
related to their work at Ground Zero. These health problems include 
things like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, interstitial lung 
diseases, and reactive airway disease.
  A recent New York Times article highlighted the clear link between 
the World Trade Center dust and life-threatening diseases. The article 
cited the report from doctors from the Fire Department of New York and 
the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, which again confirms what we 
have known for years, that we are facing a major health crisis as a 
result of September 11.
  These studies do not even address the students at Stuyvesant High 
School and the Borough of Manhattan Community Colleges, schools that 
sat near piles of debris from the Towers, the nearby residents' 
apartments still contain poisonous dust or the thousands of people that 
work in offices that were never properly cleaned. These factors 
combined present an unprecedented challenge to public health not just 
to New York City but across the country.
  In the days and weeks after 9/11, workers and volunteers came from 
across the country to help. The great citizens of this country came 
together, but the Federal Government has failed in its obligations. To 
this day there has been no comprehensive testing and cleanup of the 
affected areas, and to this day, there is no adequate provision for 
long-term monitoring of health care of the people who suffered in the 
aftermath of the World Trade Center disaster.
  Now we are making, finally, small strides in providing health care to 
those who became ill. The emergency supplemental appropriations bill 
passed earlier this year because of the efforts of Mrs. Maloney and 
myself and other members of the New York delegation included $50 
million for 9/11 health needs. The 2008 House Labor-HHS appropriations 
bill includes $50 million for the World Trade Center monitoring and 
treatment program.
  I was also extremely pleased to learn from Senator Clinton that the 
Senate appropriations subcommittee has included $55 million in their 
version of the labor appropriations bill. The Senate version of the 
bill includes funding for residents, offices of commercial workers, 
volunteers, and students. I hope the House will follow suit in making 
Federal funding available for residents too.
  But much more remains to be done. The estimates of the costs are not 
$50 million a year but starting at $198 million and expanding to $400 
million a year as more people become sick in the next few years. And we 
need to develop a comprehensive approach to 9/11 health that includes 
residents, nonfirst responder workers and school children. We need to 
secure funding that is not subject to the yearly appropriations battle. 
We must commit ourselves to act and to help all of those who are still 
waiting. That is why we are going to introduce the bill that Mrs. 
Maloney referred to a few minutes ago to provide a long-term 
comprehensive funding source, a bill that I hope this House will 
consider.
  But in addition, there's a second cover-up. I have always said there 
are two cover-ups conducted here. One about the health care disaster 
that followed 9/11; that cover-up has unraveled. In the last year with 
the revelations of the Mount Sinai study, the New York Daily News 
reports and other reports that have come out, now everybody recognizes 
that first responders and residents are suffering, thousands and 
thousands of them, because of the air pollution after 9/11, because of 
the government lying to them and saying that the air was safe to 
breathe and therefore they didn't use respiratory equipment or they 
were there in the first place when they shouldn't have been, not the 
first responders, but residents who could have gone elsewhere. But that 
was one cover-up that has now unraveled, and we have been talking about 
what to do about it and how to provide long-term medical monitoring and 
long-term care for it, and that is the legislation we are talking 
about.
  But there was and is a second cover-up, and that cover-up is the fact 
that the indoor spaces that were polluted were never properly cleaned 
up. A GAO report, which Senator Clinton and Mrs. Maloney and I unveiled 
yesterday, pointed out that the EPA to this day cannot guarantee that 
any single building, except for its own building which it cleaned up 
properly at 290

[[Page 23697]]

Broadway, other than that, they cannot guarantee that any single 
building in Lower Manhattan is clean today and does not contain toxins 
that are slowly poisoning people on and on.
  The EPA never properly cleaned up, nor did the City of New York, 
indoor spaces. Nature cleans up the outdoor spaces. The rain washes the 
stuff away. The wind blows the toxins away. Nothing cleans up indoor 
spaces. The EPA Inspector General reported in 2003, it is 4 years ago 
already, that the so-called cleanup the EPA conducted in 2002 was a 
phony, that it didn't clean up anything adequately. And they said that 
what had to be done, the EPA Inspector General, was that the EPA should 
inspect several hundred indoor spaces, apartments, residences in 
concentric circles going out from the World Trade Center to find out 
where the contamination is, maybe 3 blocks in one direction, maybe 3 
miles in another. And wherever they found the contamination, they had 
to go in and clean up every single building in those areas. That may 
cost money, but until that happens, the babies crawling on the rug 10 
years from now or today will be poisoned. The people living in those 
apartments, working in those spaces, will be poisoned, and we will reap 
the bitter harvest 10 and 15 and 20 years from now with thousands of 
unnecessary and preventable cases of mesothelioma and lung cancer and 
asbestosis.
  Mr. Speaker, it is our job to do two things. If we are going to be 
true to what we have said to the heroes and about the heroes of 9/11, 
we must do two things. We must provide legislation and funding for 
long-term monitoring and health care such as that that Mrs. Maloney and 
I and others have been talking about in the legislation that we are 
introducing. We must also prevail upon the administration, by 
legislation if necessary, to do the proper indoor testing the way the 
EPA Inspector General said, and then to do proper cleanup. Not a 
cleanup that the EPA's own scientific advisory panel says is a joke and 
a fraud, not the cleanup that the EPA's Inspector General says is a 
joke and a fraud, a proper cleanup that does the entire building, that 
looks at all pollutants, not just asbestos, that is not limited 
geographically to below Canal Street, but wherever the contamination 
went as scientifically determined.
  These are what we must do. If we do these things, we are true to the 
survivors and the heroes, and we will learn so that, God forbid, when 
there is another disaster, natural or manmade, we will do it properly 
and we will not have thousands of people with preventable illnesses and 
shortened lives as a result of our malfeasance or carelessness.
  So I thank Mrs. Maloney for arranging this special order. I thank her 
for her leadership and in bringing to all our attention the struggle 
and the continuing health problems caused by 9/11 and in helping to 
craft legislation to deal with it.
  Mrs. MALONEY of New York. I thank the gentleman for his leadership 
and for his moving statement.
  Mr. Speaker, the New York Daily News editorial board won the Pulitzer 
Prize for its groundbreaking series of editorials entitled ``9/11, The 
Forgotten Victims'' which documented the growing medical fallout from 
the World Trade Center attacks. Since this is really about the sick 
heroes and heroines of 9/11, not about legislation or legislators, I 
would like to share an excerpt from this award-winning series. This is 
from part 1 of the series entitled, ``Abandoned Heroes,'' which was 
originally published in 2006.
  I quote, ``They cough, they wheeze, their heads and faces pound with 
the pressure of swollen sinuses. They lose their breath with minor 
exertion. They suffer the suffocation of asthma and diseases that 
attack the very tissues of their lungs. They endure acid reflux, a 
painful indigestion that never goes away. They are haunted by the 
mental and emotional traumas of having witnessed horror. Many are too 
disabled to work. And some have died.''
  Mr. Speaker, I now yield 5 minutes to my colleague and friend from 
the other side of the aisle, the gentleman from New York, Vito 
Fossella, who has worked very hard to get funding for the heroes of 9/
11, including $25 million in the President's budget.
  Mr. FOSSELLA. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague and I thank her for 
her efforts to date on being one of the strongest and one of the most 
vocal advocates for ensuring that the people who, regrettably, either 
are not known about or too often are forgotten, those are the folks 
that have been represented so well by Mrs. Maloney and mentioned by Mr. 
Nadler, people who are suffering today.
  There is one thing I know about the American people. If they know 
that their fellow citizens are suffering, especially those who 
responded to that tragedy on 9/11, they will be willing to help. So I 
think it is part of our job, a very important role here is that we 
continue to inform not just the Congress, but really, by extension, the 
American people that there are thousands of people who need our help.
  As we approach the sixth anniversary of 9/11, it is time to reaffirm 
our commitment of never forgetting. As was mentioned, we may forget too 
much here in Washington. All of those who worked, lived and went to 
school in Lower Manhattan, who breathed in the toxic air created by the 
destruction of the Towers, many of them are suffering tragically from 
health effects. A New York City Health Department study shows an 
increased incidence of asthma for those that worked at the pile. A 
Department of Health and Human Services study shows that illnesses that 
are a result of exposure to 9/11 toxins are definitely on the rise. As 
this problem grows, progress on coming to a solution can be measured 
only in small steps rather than giant leaps as critical needs continue 
to be unmet after 6 years. In fairness, in the last 2 years or so, we 
have had some progress: $125 million from the Federal Government, of 
which $75 million went for treatment, that was for the first time, 
working with Mrs. Maloney in particular; getting the creation of a 
health czar by the name of Dr. John Howard to help coordinate and 
minister the Federal response.

                              {time}  1600

  As was mentioned, there was $50 million in the appropriations bill. 
But so much more needs to be done, and I think a stronger Federal 
response is appropriate. We fought across party lines. After all, this 
is not a Democrat or Republican issue; this is just about people coming 
together to help our Federal citizens to ensure that an adequate 
Federal plan is put into place.
  We have a step in the right direction, and we need to keep the 
momentum going. That is why we are working to help draft legislation 
that addresses several key areas to help our heroes who are sick today, 
as well as anyone who falls ill in the future. One of the alarming 
trends that we see is that according to anyone you talk to with 
knowledge, it is beyond anecdotal. We can all tell stories of 
individuals who we know, young firefighters who ran a 6-minute mile in 
their thirties and forties and now have trouble walking up a flight of 
stairs.
  The clinic that deals with the fire department in the City of New 
York that sees on a regular basis firefighters has already evaluated 
more than 14,000 firefighters. That is 14,000 firefighters. That 
doesn't include the more than 55,000 people on the registry.
  As we speak, there are 3,000 firefighters who are seeking mental 
health counseling and 2,000 who go for regular check-ups for their 
physical well-being, pulmonary problems, respiratory problems, the 
World Trade Center cough, asthma. The list goes on, not even to go into 
the cancer-related illnesses that we think may spring up in the future. 
I say that because many illnesses will not manifest themselves for 
another 15 or 20 or 25 years.
  Is it the right thing to do for America to turn its back on young men 
and women who really gave their all on that day, who ran into burning 
buildings to try to save others, who stayed on the pile week in and 
week out? Are we really doing the right thing by saying they might not 
get to see their grandchildren or their kids go to school or to 
graduations or weddings?
  I don't think it is the right thing to do, which is why I think this 
legislation is so important. When you think

[[Page 23698]]

about the number of people on the registry, 71,000, maybe not all of 
them are sick, but let's suppose half of them are. That is larger than 
many small towns and cities and villages across the United States. They 
are actively under review for health care problems.
  We know the Department of Health and Human Services revealed that 
6,500 responders, and I mentioned within the fire department, but in 
total 6,500 responders are currently being treated for 9/11-related 
health problems through the federally funded World Trade Center Medical 
Monitoring and Treatment Program, and another 500 to 1,000 additional 
responders are signing up each month.
  I know we have a wonderful gift in this country to be compassionate, 
to take care of those in need. I think our roles here, with my 
colleagues Mrs. Maloney, Mr. Nadler, so many across the New York 
delegation, I just think it is our role to speak loudly, convincingly, 
working with the AFL-CIO in New York.
  We will be getting together Saturday at Ground Zero to call attention 
once again and to reaffirm our commitment never to forget.
  On a very personal level, I know too many people across Staten Island 
and Brooklyn who were willing to risk their lives. I know many who 
risked their lives and gave their lives on September 11. But the untold 
story, and it will be told for years and years to come, are so many 
young people who stayed there for the recovery and rescue effort and 
now need our help. This Federal legislation that we are proposing and 
soon to be introducing will help them give a degree of certainty.
  Finally, we mentioned the new clinic alone on Staten Island that will 
make it more convenient for firefighters. How important it is for 
treatment and monitoring to go hand-in-hand. It is one thing to give 
these individuals a level of assurance that the treatment will be 
there. Another is the financial implications. It is not unusual for a 
firefighter to have copayments for prescription medication, not 
available in generic, of $2,600 a year because of having to respond to 
Ground Zero after 9/11.
  Two thousand six hundred dollars is a lot of money, especially to a 
firefighter. We should be there to help offset that cost. And the 
monitoring is important because of the fear and the concern, the fear 
and the concern that the more debilitating, more severe illnesses will 
manifest themselves. I talk of leukemia or blood illnesses or cancers.
  That is why it is so essential that we get this plan put in place and 
that the Federal Government and the United States of America not turn 
its back on the thousands of people who need our help.
  Mrs. MALONEY of New York. I thank the gentleman.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to say that we are now approaching the 
sixth anniversary and there are a number of committees here in the 
House that will be looking closely at this issue.
  I want to thank Chairman Pallone of the Health Subcommittee on Energy 
and Commerce for holding a very important hearing on the health effects 
on the day of the anniversary. Many of his constituents rushed down to 
Ground Zero in the aftermath of 9/11, and they are now very sick. In 
fact, one of the Centers of Excellence providing monitoring and 
treatment to sick workers is located in Congressman Pallone's district.
  There will be no greater champion, no one more important for the sick 
workers of 9/11 than Frank Pallone and Chairman Dingell. I thank them 
for their hard work.
  Also, Chairman Towns, my dear friend from Brooklyn, will be holding a 
field hearing in New York City on Monday in his Oversight and 
Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Management. This is the 
third hearing this year that the chairman has held on making sure that 
everyone exposed to the deadly toxins is monitored and everyone who is 
sick is treated. His dedication to helping the residents, area workers 
and schoolchildren and those who came from across the country to help 
is tremendous.
  Last, our friend and true leader in the Congress, Chairman Miller of 
the Education and Labor Committee, is delving into why workers were not 
protected while working at and around Ground Zero. On Wednesday of next 
week his full committee will hold an important hearing, the first in a 
series, with the second focusing on why workers were not protected 
after Hurricane Katrina. I thank my dear friend for his ongoing focus 
and support for this issue.
  It is clear that this Congress will not allow the heroes of 9/11 to 
go longer without the care they need and deserve. Six years is long 
enough.
  We now have one of our other distinguished colleagues from New York, 
Steve Israel. He serves on the Appropriations Committee. Along with 
Chairman Obey, he worked to secure $100 million in this year's budget 
for the sick workers. We thank him for his commitment and support.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to my dear friend and colleague from the State 
of New York, Congressman Israel.
  Mr. ISRAEL. Mr. Speaker, I thank my distinguished friend and partner 
in this critically important project, and I thank her for her 
leadership on this legislation. I know that she has been so dedicated 
and so devoted to this cause.
  Mr. Speaker, on September 11, the President of the United States 
spoke to the Nation, and here is what he said: ``The American people 
have faced other grave crises in their history--with American courage, 
and with American resolution. They will do no less today.''
  I am not talking about President Bush saying those words on September 
11. Believe it or not, Mr. Speaker, I am talking about President 
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who said those words on September 11, 1941, 
60 years before the attacks on our Nation.
  We have witnessed that resolution and that courage all around us 
since September 11. We witness it almost every day in our own 
interactions with the rescue workers, with the first responders, with 
those who could have fled and gone in another direction, but instead 
showed up and said that they wanted to help.
  I know of an ironworker, Mr. Speaker, his name is John Sferazo. John 
Sferazo went to Ground Zero to help. He refused to leave. Today, John 
Sferazo's voice sounds like gravel. His breathing is labored. His chest 
hurts him. I know that my friend is well aware of John Sferazo.
  John Sferazo contracted some very serious medical problems at Ground 
Zero. He probably knew then that he would have these problems. But 
still he didn't leave. He stayed there. And as a result of his courage 
and his commitment, his resolution and his determination, today his 
breathing is labored, it is difficult for him to speak. Our obligation 
to John Sferazo is to make sure we take care of him, to monitor his 
health, to improve his quality of life, to take care of him, because 
when the time came, he was there to take care of us.
  I know of another worker, Mr. Speaker. I met him at a Ground Zero 
workers conference in my congressional district at the State University 
of New York at Farmingdale. I met him about a year ago.
  I was a speaker at that conference; and as I was leaving, he stopped 
me in the lobby, and this is what he said. He said, Congressman, I am 
not sure I am going to be here next year. I am embarrassed to say, Mr. 
Speaker, that I thought he was saying that he wasn't sure he could 
attend the conference next year.
  I said, Well, I am sure that you will be able to come back. He said, 
No, you don't understand. I'm not sure I am going to be alive next 
year, is what he said. He said, What I am supposed to do with my 
family? Who is going to take care of them?
  It may sound melodramatic, Mr. Speaker, but these are real people. 
Can you imagine doing what you thought was the best thing you could do, 
serving your country, serving your colleagues, going to Ground Zero, 
sacrificing yourself, and now you are not sure you are going to be 
around a year from now?
  What is our obligation to these people? Our obligation is to take 
care of them and to take care of their families.

[[Page 23699]]

Our obligation is to make sure that they get the health care that they 
need. Our obligation is to let them know that we will not forget them.
  I will close by suggesting that next week many of us in Congress will 
attend 9/11 ceremonies. I plan after votes to fly home to be at Commack 
High School in my district for a 9/11 vigil. We are going to light the 
candles, and we are going to talk about what a grievous day that was 
and our commitment to having a strong Nation.
  But, really, we should not think about these people just on 9/11. 
This should not be an anniversary commemoration. The legislation that 
the gentlewoman has introduced with my friends from New York will make 
sure that this is not just an annual commemoration, but that every 
single day, those workers who were there on 9/11 at Ground Zero get the 
health care that they need and that we are securing their future.
  We had faced a crisis that day, a national crisis. They face a crisis 
every day, a personal crisis; and it is up to us to help and to secure 
their future.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman again for her leadership.
  Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
raising the issue of his two constituents with whom he has worked. It 
brings a personal face on the tragic horror that many people confront.
  I also want to particularly commend him for his work on the 
Appropriations Committee. In addition to the comprehensive legislation 
that we are jointly putting in as a delegation, Mr. Israel and others 
on the Appropriations Committee have taken a lead in providing funding. 
In recent months, because of his efforts and those of others, we have 
passed appropriations bills to make sure that federally financed 
9/11 health clinics, including those run by Mount Sinai and the New 
York City Fire Department, do not have to shut their doors because of 
lack of funding.
  We included $50 million for 9/11 health clinics in the recent war 
supplemental spending measure and the House-passed Labor-HHS 
appropriations bill. This was done by Mr. Israel's committee. I 
mentioned a moment ago that this included another $50 million for 9/11 
health needs. In the Senate version of the Labor-HHS bill, Senators 
Clinton, Schumer and others have gotten $55 million into the Senate 
bill. So when this appropriations bill gets signed into law, we in 
Congress will have provided at least $100 million for 9/11 health needs 
this year alone.
  This is a very good start. Thank you so much, Steve. It is a 
testimony to the leadership not only of Steve, but of the two Senators, 
our entire New York delegation, our Democratic leadership, and I would 
say very importantly, I would say Congressman Obey, for his leadership 
in this battle for funding. We will continue the fight to ensure that 
the heroes of 9/11 have access to the health care that they deserve.
  Mr. Speaker, I now yield to my distinguished colleague and friend, 
John Hall, of New York's Nineteenth District. He represents the Hudson 
Valley. He has just been elected to Congress, but he is fighting just 
as hard as all of us who have suffered from 9/11 to make sure that the 
health care needs of the wounded are taken care of. I thank him for 
joining me in this Special Order and for his hard work.
  Mr. HALL of New York. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding and my 
colleagues from New York for carrying this important legislation 
forward.
  Mr. Speaker, Tuesday marks the sixth-year anniversary of the attacks 
on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. September 11 is truly a 
dark day in America's history and a personal tragedy for those who lost 
family and friends in the attacks.

                              {time}  1615

  But out of that dark day, however, we saw the spirit of the American 
people. Immediately following the attack, people around the country 
lined up to donate blood and raised money for the victims' families. 
Every congressional district and every State saw people, first 
responders and just ordinary citizens, get on planes and get in cars to 
rush to Ground Zero to help work on the remains of the World Trade 
Center.
  In New York, first responders, many of whom lived in my district, 
rushed into the burning World Trade Center towers to save whomever they 
could. Immediately after the attacks, we saw firefighters, police and 
volunteers line up and work 24-hour shifts sorting through the rubble 
looking for survivors.
  And when it was clear that no one would come out of that rubble 
alive, those responders remained at the scene determined that no one 
would be left behind in the rubble.
  Whenever a body was removed, the stirring sight of everyone coming to 
a stop and honoring and showing their respect to the flag-covered body 
as it was removed is an image that will stay with all of us as we move 
forward through our history.
  Slowly we came to realize that those magnificent people who worked at 
Ground Zero were being exposed to harmful toxins, with significant 
risks to their health. Despite the heroic acts of our first responders, 
National Guard reservists and even volunteers, the Federal Government 
has failed 6 years later to provide comprehensive medical screening and 
medical care to those who were injured in service to our country at 
Ground Zero. We have failed to provide a comprehensive plan to monitor 
and treat those who lived and work in the immediate areas around Ground 
Zero even after we realized that the air they were breathing might be 
toxic.
  Earlier this year I had graduates of Stuyvesant High School in New 
York City come and ask for my support in providing health care for 
themselves and their classmates because of the medical problems they 
had encountered after 9/11.
  Despite assurances that their school was safe and the air was clean, 
when they returned less than a month after the attacks, multiple 
students from Stuyvesant have faced serious health care issues, 
including Amit Friedlander, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease 
and has been battling the cancer.
  The Federal Government made a serious mistake and exposed these 
children and young adults to dangerous toxins. It is well past time 
that we correct this mistake and provide the care these children and 
volunteers need.
  That is why I am proud to say I will be an original cosponsor of the 
Maloney-Nadler-Fossella 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. This bill 
will take a vital step towards providing the care those affected at 9/
11 deserve. It is my hope and belief that the New York delegation will 
unite around this bill and the House of Representatives will unite to 
act on its passage.
  Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his 
statement and for his cosponsorship and his leadership on this very 
important issue. I know that your district also includes men and women 
who rushed to the site to help others. Thank you so much.
  I am now proud to yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Weiner) 
who has been a tireless advocate, along with Jerry Nadler and others, 
for everyone who has become sick from the toxins of 9/11.
  Mr. WEINER. I thank the gentlelady for this time and for her 
leadership. This is an issue that you would think, from around the 
country when people gaze upon the memorials that will take place on 
September 11, for most Americans to realize how many people who 
responded that day are not being cared for, they would be stunned and 
surprised.
  We have a great many ideological debates that go on in this Chamber. 
We have a great many arguments about philosophy and what government 
should or should not do.
  It should be the source of no contention, it should be the source of 
no real debate, that people who rushed to help their fellow citizens on 
that day, whether they be at Ground Zero or the fields of Pennsylvania, 
whether they be at the Pentagon, those people should be honored, of 
course, but they also should be cared for.
  And yet years later, day by day, victims of September 11 are dying. 
It is easy for us to remember, those of us

[[Page 23700]]

from New York, about how that day was such a heart-wrenching day and 
how it was also uplifting to see how many Americans, like the 
gentlelady said earlier, people drove from miles around. The West Side 
Highway was largely closed, and parked on the sides of the roads were 
license plates from all around the country of people who said I am 
going to go and try to help.
  What that help consisted of in the weeks after September 11 was 
standing on a pile of rubble with buckets and paper masks and people 
lifting large pieces of stone and the rubble trying desperately to find 
anyone who could be saved.
  If we fast-forward to today, you realize many of those people are 
dying. They are dying difficult deaths. It has been argued by some that 
we don't know exactly what the cause of those deaths are. Well, that is 
not true. A lot of the monitoring has been done. A lot of the studies 
that have been done by medical experts in New York City and the 
hospitals in the area, we know with some certitude what happened, and 
the things we are finding in the lungs of those that are dying is very 
clear that it came from that horrific day.
  We also have heard from some who say we don't know how expensive this 
could be. It could be untold millions and millions of dollars. Well, 
the first thing is to try to get some sense of responsibility, and I 
believe it is largely a Federal responsibility, and I think that 
debate, frankly, belittles the strength of the Federal Government and 
the idea that this was an attack on our Federal Government.
  But we do have some sense of what the costs are going to be. Now we 
need to start to say one final thing. We know what the cost is to some 
degree. We know what the cause is with near certitude. We are going to 
accept the responsibility to take care of these people. It seems to me 
intuitive, and yet here we are 6 years later still having this 
discussion. And I think, as I said earlier, we can have large 
discussions about how you provide health care in this country, and I am 
willing to engage in that. We can have discussions about how we should 
make our country safer so we don't have a September 11 again. We should 
have those types of discussions.
  But as long as we can all embrace the idea this is the responsibility 
of government to take care of these people because they did not run to 
that pile waving their Blue Cross/Blue Shield card or waving their 
Medicare card or waving their union membership, they just showed up and 
did what they were asked to do. Sometimes they did much more than they 
were asked to do.
  I firmly believe that many of those who are dying today, even if they 
knew that if they did it again they would die, they would still do it. 
That was the kind of sense, that was the kind of pathos that existed 
that day. People were so eager to do whatever they could, they were 
willing to make sacrifices.
  But the question becomes: Should we let them pay that price? Should 
we let them, day by day, as we just saw yesterday, two more police 
officers died from 9/11-related diseases, should we let it happen? And 
the answer is ``no.''
  I want to end the way I began, by offering my congratulations and 
thanks to the gentlelady from New York.
  This is a difficult issue, because as much as people would like to 
say that they are doing everything to honor those victims of September 
11, we know in this Chamber that there are some people who are 
steadfastly pushing back every single day. And Mr. Nadler and the 
gentlewoman from New York, and many members of the New York delegation, 
but none more than the two of them, have fought every day to keep this 
on the front burner.
  Every year now on September 11, we are going to cast our memory time 
immemorial back to September 11, 2001. Let this be the last year we 
have to mark this day by pointing out the shoddy treatment of those who 
rushed to Ground Zero to volunteer.
  I know that the gentlelady has communicated this to Speaker Pelosi 
and she has been very supportive of this. Let's hope we can find the 
type of bipartisan consensus that is truly reflected in this country in 
paying honor to the memory of those that were lost and paying honor to 
the sacrifice of those still with us.
  Mrs. MALONEY of New York. I thank the gentleman very much for his 
leadership not only on this bill but on many others that help the 9/11 
survivors. He has been a leader on the Judiciary Committee on the 9/11 
immigration bill which will be on the floor on 9/11 and hopefully will 
pass.
  It is now my pleasure to yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. 
Clarke). Yvette Clarke was elected to the New York City Council the 
year of 9/11 where she served as the Chair of the Women's Committee and 
held many important positions. She now represents the 11th 
Congressional District representing central Brooklyn. Thank you for 
being here today and for your statement.
  Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Speaker, I want to start by thanking the gentlelady 
from New York for her relentless efforts on behalf of the victims, 
heroes and heroines of the World Trade Center attack and aftermath. I 
am joining my colleagues on the floor in pursuit of justice for the 
second-generation victims of the wicked attack of our Nation in New 
York City on September 11 and to demand basic health care support and 
services for those whose physical well-being was adversely and 
irreparably impacted by the horrific attack on the World Trade Center.
  As was stated by the gentlelady from New York, I was elected to the 
New York City Council the year our dear city was attacked. I became 
Chair of the Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services, as well 
as a member of the Health Committee where we examined year after year 
what the impact of the aftermath, the work that our first responders, 
the residents of the area were feeling as a result of having been 
misguided, misled by our own Federal Government through the leadership, 
or lack of leadership some would say, of the administration through the 
Environmental Protection Agency which said to New Yorkers that the air 
we were breathing was okay and that we would be fine, only to find out 
that today many are diseased.
  I also watched as a very close friend, a very best friend and 
companion of mine, rushed out on September 11 to the pile, a member of 
Local 79, who heard the call. And as I speak with him each and every 
day, I am reminded that he is one of the lucky ones. But every now and 
then when he coughs, I wonder could this be the advent of a serious 
health crisis that was precipitated by his heroism on that day.
  I cannot fathom why on the advent of the 6th anniversary of this most 
tragic event in our history this administration has not seen fit to do 
right by its most courageous citizenry. This is a problem that not only 
affects many thousands of people throughout the New York region, but 
also countless thousands throughout the country who bravely came to New 
York City and helped my hometown in our time of need.
  Immediately following the attack and imminent collapse of the World 
Trade Center, first responders, construction workers and volunteers 
from across every economic sector and walk of life converged upon what 
we know as Ground Zero to perform search and rescue missions.
  From the outset, these heroic individuals went in without a second 
thought about their own personal well-being. They just wanted to save 
anyone who might have been buried alive and/or to help recover the 
bodies of those who had perished, heroes and heroines, without whose 
efforts New York City and our Nation never could have recovered as 
quickly as it did.
  Later, many of these same workers went through the lengthy process of 
cleaning up the demolished site. At the time, the EPA declared the air 
to be safe to breathe, a statement we now know to have been false. 
Because of their efforts in helping our country to recover, these men 
and women ingested vast amounts of toxic dust and harmful chemicals. 
The result is a plague of debilitating and deadly diseases, some of 
which are rarely seen in nature. Only now, 6 years later, are many of 
these diseases and complications showing

[[Page 23701]]

themselves. In fact, many of the people who spent time near the site 
may not show any problems until several years further down the line. 
Even the best experts have no clue just how many of these individuals 
will actually fall ill of long-term complications from the exposure.
  Of course we cannot change the past so there is nothing anyone can do 
about exposure that already took place. All we can do now is make sure 
that these victims receive the medical treatment they deserve. 
Bureaucratic red tape and legal challenges have left these second 
generation victims overwhelmed by deteriorating health as well as a 
lack of meaningful financial support from a grateful Nation. Many are 
going bankrupt under the weight of escalating health costs and the loss 
of income to their homes and families. And what about the families?
  Furthermore, there has been no assistance offered to the many 
nonresponders who worked on the scene and the area residents who 
breathed the tainted air that entered their homes. These people are 
also victims of the attacks, and require support for health problems 
that are only now manifesting.
  This is why I am compelled to add my name and wholehearted support 
behind the Maloney-Nadler-Fossella 9/11 Health Compensation Act. This 
comprehensive bill establishes programs to monitor and treat everyone 
exposed to the dangerous toxins found at Ground Zero.
  Whether you are a police officer or firefighter, construction worker, 
area resident, government employee or anyone else who spent significant 
time at the scene, you are entitled to treatment for any disease that 
doctors find is linked to your work immediately after the attacks.
  Some of my colleagues from outside the New York region may wonder why 
they should support such a bill. They say it does nothing for their own 
States or districts, so why bother voting for it.

                              {time}  1630

  I feel the reasons could not be clearer. The diseases being developed 
by victims of Ground Zero are horrid. Already well over 100 deaths have 
been partially attributed to toxins from the site. Not long ago, a 34-
year-old detective collapsed and died while playing with his young 
daughter due to complications from exposure. There are victims 
requiring double lung transplants because of damage caused from dust 
and chemicals. Others develop rare cancers
  These people are heroes to the Nation. They went in and helped 
resuscitate not just a city but an entire country that had been 
shocked, frozen, traumatized and unsure of how to react. It should be a 
matter of national honor to help these victims who have rushed in where 
we all rushed out.
  I wholeheartedly support the Maloney-Nadler-Fossella bill as a 
cosponsor, and I look forward to joining my colleagues and the AFL-CIO 
this weekend at the World Trade Center site as we rally in support of 
fulfilling victims' long-term health care needs.
  I thank the gentlewoman from New York for her extraordinary 
leadership with regards to this matter, and I look forward to pursuing 
what is right and what is just on behalf of our fellow New Yorkers, 
fellow Americans and their families.
  Mrs. MALONEY of New York. I thank the gentlewoman for her really very 
eloquent and moving statement, and in closing, we must not forget the 
firefighters, police officers, EMTs and other first responders who 
bravely rushed down to the save the lives even as everyone else was 
running in the other direction, as my colleague so eloquently stated.
  We must not forget the rescue, recovery and cleanup workers who 
stayed on for months at Ground Zero in service to our country.
  And we must not forget the residents, area workers and school 
children who lived, worked and studied through deadly toxins and have 
now become sick.
  Once again, I stand on the floor of Congress to pledge that I will 
not stop fighting until everyone exposed to the deadly toxins is 
monitored and everyone who is sick gets the treatment they deserve.

                          ____________________