Disability Law

Zadroga Bill Last Hope for Many 9/11 Ground Zero First Responders

By Troy Rosasco

Many say passage of the Detective James Zadroga Bill in the US Senate is all up to Chuck Schumer now.  Not so. 

It's really up to one brave Republican Senator willing to put partisan politics aside and do the right thing by these "injured war veterans".  They may not have served in Afghanistan or Iraq, but they were attacked all the same.

Many first responders unfairly closed out of the most recent mega 9/11 settlement may only have the Zadroga Bill to fall back on - and they are just as sick as the ones now being compensated in the lawsuits approved by Judge Alvin Hellerstein, according to Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney.

Which Republican Senator would vote to deny Iraq and Afghanistan war vets their right to medical care and compensation? Not one.

But because this issue has been portrayed as simply a local New York matter by some Republicans or another debt inflating conundrum by others, the Mitch McConnell crew in the Senate have not broken ranks - yet.

So which Republican Senator will be a Statesman rather than a politician? Whoever it is, I'll get out my chisel now and climb Mt. Rushmore, but I'm not holding my breath. 

Full post as published by The New York Disability Law Blog on November 30, 2010 (boomark / email).