9/11 First Responders Continue To Wait For Help
A bill to provide September 11 first responders with compensation and medical treatment has failed to pass the House of Representatives. The bill would have provided up to $7.4 billion dollars for free health care and lost wages for those that were sickened by the dust and ash inhaled at the World Trade Center site. Instead, the approximately 10,000 workers that helped clean up the WTC site are only left to look to the $713 million dollar settlement recently negotiated by lawyers for those suffering illness, but has yet to be approved by the victims.
The proposed settlement would pay out large sums of money only to those police officers, firefighters and construction workers who have developed severe respiratory problems and other illnesses from inhaling the dust at the WTC site. The settlement was approved by a federal court Judge after he urged the lawyers to reduce their legal fees to sweeten the pot. The worker's still have not approved of the terms of the settlement.
Kenneth Feinberg, the former administrator of the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund, has come to Staten Island recently to urge the workers to approve the settlement. As I represented survivor's of the World Trade Center collapse in the Victim's Compensation Fund, I attended numerous meetings at which Mr. Feinberg spoke. At those meetings, his pleas now echo the same: its the only game in town. Take the settlement. As a lawyer, I am used to the "strong-arm" tactics and see it as part of the game. As a citizen who watched those towers collapse, I am offended that after asking thousands of our countrymen to work in a caustic cloud of ash and dust, we are now trying to settle their claims for pennies on the dollar. The government already made deals with the unions to protect auto workers, who don't suffer from any rash of occupational diseases, but they apparently feel that it was money better spent. Day and night, the first responders searched for any signs of the living, then the dead and then cleaned up what was destroyed so we could rebuild, stronger then ever. We asked for their help, now they are asking for ours. We need to ensure the future of our first responders and their families by reaching a fair settlement, under inflated from the lack of federal payments.
