By Hank Russell
A solution to the longstanding funding shortfall impacting the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP) has been reached and included in the year-end continuing resolution. This fix is the result of negotiations led by U.S. Representative Andrew Garbarino (R-Patchogue), U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York), and Senator Mike Braun (R-Indiana) with House and Senate leadership.
The fix includes a significant change to the WTCHP’s funding formula, ensuring substantially more funding through 2040. Prior to this change, the projected funding deficit would have forced cuts to program services for sick and injured 9/11 responders and survivors starting in 2027.
Congress established the WTCHP on a bipartisan basis in 2011 with a five-year authorization to provide medical treatment and monitoring for 9/11 responders and survivors suffering from exposure to toxins at Ground Zero. The program covers the lifespans of all exposed individuals, including first responders, survivors of the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the Shanksville crash site, children who attended schools in downtown Manhattan on 9/11 and during the clean-up, and those who have since developed, or are expected to develop, adverse health effects linked to the attacks.
The WTCHP was reauthorized in 2015 and extended through 2090 with bipartisan support. Today, the program provides medical treatment and monitoring for over 130,000 responders and survivors from the World Trade Center and lower Manhattan, the Pentagon, and the Shanksville, PA crash site, representing every state and nearly all Congressional Districts.
On September 11, 2001, there were 2,753 people who were killed at the World Trade Center during the terrorist attacks. Since the attacks, more than 6,400 people have died from 9/11-related illnesses.
“After years of uncertainty, 9/11 survivors and first responders can breathe easier knowing their access to care is no longer under imminent threat,” Garbarino said. “This fix will provide annual funding sufficient to cover the nearly $3 billion shortfall facing the WTCHP over the next 15 years and ward off program cuts for the heroes and survivors who rely on it to treat 9/11-related conditions.” said Garbarino. “I am proud to have led this effort in the House and thank Speaker Johnson for his attention to this critical issue that impacts so many New Yorkers and 9/11 responders across the country. I also thank my partners in the Senate, especially Senator Gillibrand, who stood shoulder to shoulder with me in the fight to get this done.
Garbarino and Gillibrand are the lead sponsors of the 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act, which served as the basis for the new funding formula. He thanked Gillibrand and House Majority Leader Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) for their support. “Twenty-three years ago, we promised to never forget the horrors of 9/11, and saving this program is crucial to keeping that promise.”