DuBose Law Firm, PLLC, a Dallas, TX based law firm, is troubled by the resistance of some members of the U.S. Congress to pass the Zadroga Act. Currently there are 222 of the 435 members of the House and 58 of 100 Senators who are co-sponsoring the bill. This bill furnishes health care, both physical and mental, to first responders and others, including children, who were caught in the 9/11 cloud of toxic dust, leaving them with an assortment of injuries, cancers and other deadly diseases. Many of these men and women came from far away to help the people of New York. There are currently 33,000 9/11 responders and survivors throughout all 50 states who are now in limbo about their care going forward.
The current bill expired on September 30th this year after being established in 2010. Without action on a bill to indefinitely extend benefits to 9/11 responders, the cash reserves will run out in 2016, leaving the responders without the resources supplied the past five years by the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program. This bill fought for attention with other bills facing Congress and now must hope there is still time to do what is right for these fellow citizens before the money runs out.
To see your representatives’ views, go to the Citizens for the Extension of the Zadroga Act website at www.renew911health.org. Contact your current representatives, as well as the presidential candidates with your support of the bill so the Zadroga Act extension will become law and these people can fight their diseases rather than the government bureaucracy. The tragedy of 9/11 still goes on.
