Labor & Employment Law

McConnell Leads Republican Opposition to 9/11 Health Care Bill

By Mike Hall

What?s holding up Senate action on the 9/11 health care bill that passed the House by a vote of 268 to 160 with bipartisan support in September? Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell?s opposition to the bill is the major stumbling block. McConnell has taken no public position, but in private, according to published reports, he has voiced opposition to the bill.

Reports John Toscano in the Queens Gazette:

Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, from Kentucky, makes no effort to hide his anti-NYC feelings in opposing the 9/11 bill, even though many volunteers from outside the state volunteered their efforts to the Ground Zero cleanup and became sick as a result of it.

Washington sources reported McConnell?s opposition is the most serious impediment to passing the measure.

The bill, 9/11 Health and Compensation Act (H.R. 847),  would provide long-term medical care and monitoring for the first responders, recovery workers and others exposed to the Ground Zero toxic mix of chemicals, jet fuel, asbestos, lead, glass fragments and other debris.

This week, a delegation of New York lawmakers, Sept. 11 first responders, labor leaders and others were on Capitol Hill. They sought to persuade a small group of Republican senators who have expressed support for the bill to join Democrats in passing the legislation during the current lame-duck session. Says Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.):

This should not be a partisan fight. We have an undeniable, moral obligation to provide our 9/11 heroes with all the care they need.    

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) appealed to Republican senators “to do the right thing.”

We cannot wait any longer for action on this legislation.  Let us work together, both sides of the aisle, now to ensure that all those who survived the attacks and all those who risked their lives to save others receive the health care they need and they deserve.  This is an American obligation.

There are nearly 60,000 people enrolled in a variety of health monitoring and treatment programs related to the Sept. 11 attacks. A new study by the Mount Sinai Medical Center found the health problems of those who spent time in the toxic Ground Zero stew are more widespread and persistent than previously reported. Some 70 percent of the 10,000 workers tested between 2002 and 2004 now say they have new or worsened respiratory illnesses.

Four times as many firefighters and twice as many emergency medical service workers had below-normal lung function for their ages six to seven years after Sept. 11 as they did before the attacks.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on November 19, 2010 (boomark / email).