NEW YORK—The U.S. Senate voted Thursday not to discuss the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, 57 to 42.
The bill, which has already been passed by the House of Representatives, would spend $7 billion to provide health care and other services to those who became ill after exposure to toxins at the World Trade Center site. Around 60,000 responders would benefit from such federally funded health services.
Republican senators are trying to force a vote on extending Bush-era tax cuts by refusing to take action on other issues.
“When every senator on the Republican side signed a letter that said no business could be done until they had a vote on a tax issue, I find it to be morally reprehensible, because these are nonpartisan issues,” New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told NY1.
Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) suggested attaching the Zadroga Act to the tax cuts extension bill to force a discussion.
“Thousands of Americans, from all 50 states, are sick because of 9/11 and they shouldn’t have to wait any longer to get the help they need,” said Maloney in a press release.
Maloney and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) are planning to hold a press conference Friday afternoon at ground zero to demand the passage of the Zadroga bill.
The bill is named after NYPD officer James Zadroga, who was a 9/11 responder. He died in 2006 from what is believed to have been the aftereffects of 9/11 toxins.
