STANDING WITH 9/11 ADVOCATES, SCHUMER & GILLIBRAND DEMAND TRUMP ADMIN FULLY RESTORE WORLD TRADE CENTER HEALTH PROGRAM STAFF & STOP PLAYING DANGEROUS GAMES; RECENT FIRINGS JEOPARDIZE HEALTHCARE; MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS; TOTAL CHAOS IN AGENCIES IS A DERELICTION OF DUTY TO NEW YORK’S 9/11 HEROES
The World Trade Center Health Program Provides Services For Roughly 137,000 Sickened 9/11 First Responders & Other Survivors & Heroes Across Nation; Trump Admin Keeps Playing Games With Staff, The Program – And The People Who Need Care; Schumer & Gillibrand Say It Must End NOW
Two Days Ago, Another 16 WTCHP Staff Members Fired On Top Of Earlier Cuts At NIOSH; Continuity Of Care At Risk; Schumer & Gillibrand Have Worked For Years To Fund & Fortify The Program So Heroes Can Live Their Lives; Now, Trump Admin Is Delivering Total Chaos, Even As Some Downplay This Is All Just A “Mistake”
Schumer, Gillibrand to Trump: Clean Up The Mess You Made & Fully Restore Every Aspect Of The Successful 9/11 Health Program—Now
As chaos swirls regarding the future of the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP), made worse in recent days with a slew of contradicting public information, U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand stood with 9/11 community leaders and demanded the Trump administration fully restore key staff for the World Trade Center Health Program and stop playing dangerous games. Schumer said that in the matter of days, some have said this torrent of chaos—essential NIOSH and WTCHP firings and staff cuts—are an innocent ‘mistake,’ all while people are still being fired.
Schumer, today, said these actions by President Trump are not accidents. Schumer said that these actions appear to be very real choices—bad ones that hurt New York and our 9/11 heroes.
“It is revolting that President Trump and Secretary Kennedy, Secretary of Health and Human Services, fired staffers at the World Trade Center Health Program, including its administrator, Dr. John Howard, a Trump appointee who has dedicated his life to serving 9/11 families and who's respected by all sides of the aisle. Even with the apparent return of Dr. Howard, President Trump and Secretary Kennedy are effectively working to shut the World Trade Center Health Program down. This is the third time this has happened so it’s pretty clear these are not “mistakes.” Some of the Trump supporters who care about the 9/11 program are saying it's a mistake. It seems clear it’s on purpose, so today we are demanding real action,” said U.S. Senator Charles Schumer.
“The uncertainty surrounding the WTCHP is dangerous and unacceptable for the thousands of 9/11 responders and survivors who risked their lives in our nation’s darkest hour,” said Senator Gillibrand. “The Trump administration is using our nation’s heroes as political pawns while critical questions surrounding the program’s funding and staffing cuts remain. This is completely unacceptable and disrespectful to the 9/11 responders and survivors who protected our nation when we were under attack and are now suffering from life-threatening health ramifications from that day.”
“In the past 24 years since September 11th, 2001 the FDNY has lost 398 heroes to World Trade Center illnesses, and thousands more continue to suffer the effects of their toxic exposure, even with the excellent efforts of the WTC Health Care Programs many more will be lost. These last two interruptions to the program; although reversed, should never have occurred. In December the WTC Health Care Program Funding Correction Bill was agreed upon by a bi-partisan effort and was going to ensure the program would be funded until 2040. That bill was taken out of the Continuing Resolution and it was never restored. This Administration needs to make it a top priority that this bill gets passed as soon as possible, so that America can fulfill its promise to 'Never Forget' those who suffer and die now, because they answered the call 24 years ago,” said President Andrew Ansbro of UFA, Uniformed Firefighters Association.
"The cuts to NIOSH & the CDC which directly affect the WTC Health Program tear the program to its core and will directly affect the tens of thousands of responders and survivors who depend on the program to stay alive and is a potential death sentence to those Responders and Survivors who will become sick in the days, months and years to follow from exposure to the toxic dust," said Gary Smiley of FDNY EMS Local 2507, Uniformed EMTs, Paramedics & Fire Inspectors, WTC Liaison.
"The World Trade Center Health Program must be made whole, it must be fully funded and this program must stay off the table for any future cuts," said Sean Michael, FDNY Battalion Chief, Uniformed Fire Officers Association Board Member.
“While the reinstatement of Dr John Howard as administrator of the World Trade Center Health Program is good news, this is only the first step in repairing the damage that is being done. All of the other staff of the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP), the CDC and NIOSH staff that support and work on behalf of 9/11 responders and survivors need to be restored immediately. Right now, the treatment of sick and injured 9/11 responders and survivors is being impacted by these staff cuts, despite what Secretary Kennedy is saying,” said Benjamin Chevat, Executive Director of Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act.
“I want to thank our Senators for their steadfast leadership. I want to thank Congressman Garbarino for his passion and commitment to help restore Dr. Howard’s job. And I understand they want to thank the administration for restoring Dr. Howard but I sort of think it is like thanking the arsonist who started the fire. Secretary Kennedy has been disingenuous and contradicted himself. The Secretary said no impact on care but that is a LIE! Proof that he is grossly unqualified for title of HSS Secretary. The 21-year-old DOGE frat kids use AI to do these cuts and firings. Last time I checked real people with real illnesses worked on the pile or lived, worked or went to school in lower Manhattan,” said John Feal, 9/11 Advocate.
“This is a life or death situation, not the time to be playing musical chairs at HHS. The government can call all the pauses it wants to. 9/11 related cancer isn’t gonna listen and won’t stop coming. The WTC staff must be restored now,” said Mariama James, WTCHP participant.
“None of these cuts have anything to do with efficiency. This is MAGA extremism pure and simple that hurts our brave first responders and others, who risked life and limb on 9/11, who rushed to the towers. They're suffering, they're getting cancers from the chemicals they breathed in when they ran to the towers to help protect us. Do you want to cut that help off to these heroes? How un-American can that be? How vicious, how nasty, how callous,” Schumer added.
Schumer and Gillibrand urged an end to these ‘games,’ and said that the WTCHP saves lives, and that recent firings and overall funding threats raise more questions than answers for New York and the nation. The senators said that this chaos is a dereliction of duty by the federal government, a disservice that must be reversed, so that the 9/11 health program, its staff, the federal government and the amazing medical professionals can all do their jobs: save lives. Schumer and Gillibrand said that they will not rest until this chaos is over. 9/11 advocates like John Feal, Sean Michael, Tom Hart, Andrew Ansbro, Gary Smiley and Mariama James all spoke, as well.
On Friday, amid NIOSH firings that included critical staff, and Dr. John Howard, Newsday reported that sixteen World Trade Center Health Program employees received notices that they could lose their jobs in the Health and Human Services Department’s downsizing, ‘despite promises the program’s staff would not be reduced.’ Benjamin Chevat, executive director of Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act, told Newsday Friday that he learned that 16 of the current 86 WTC Health Program staff members had been put on notice that they are in line to be dismissed.
The World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP) provides critical medical treatment, research, and monitoring to over 137,000 responders and survivors of the September 11th terrorist attacks, living in every state and nearly every Congressional district. The WTCHP serves first responders and survivors from the World Trade Center and lower Manhattan, the Pentagon, and the crash site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. This vital program provides life-saving care to the heroes who answered the call to serve in one of our nation’s darkest hours and the survivors who are forced to live with the health consequences from the attacks every single day.
Schumer and Gillibrand worked to establish 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 the effects of the toxins at Ground Zero. They worked to reauthorize the program in 2015 and extended through 2090 with bipartisan support. In 2022, Schumer and Gillibrand delivered $1 billion for the WTCHP in the end-of-year spending bill, and in 2023, they secured an additional $676 million for the program.