WASHINGTON — Outraged New York pols from City Hall to Capitol Hill yesterday vowed to “keep fighting” after Senate Republicans voted down the 9/11 health bill.
But reviving the bill will be a tall order after Republicans derailed it with a filibuster, carrying out their threat to block every piece of legislation until Senate Democrats OK the deal to extend all the Bush-era tax cuts.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said the filibuster was “cynical” and “morally reprehensible.”
“It is exactly what’s wrong with Washington,” said Gillibrand, who fiercely championed the bill in the Senate. “It’s an example of where politics was put above people.”
Retired firefighter Lee Ielpi, who worked at Ground Zero for nine months and now has a rare form of leukemia, as well as sinus and respiratory problems, said it was a “a national disgrace.”
“This is not a Republican or Democratic issue. This is a national issue,” said Ielpi, whose firefighter son, Jonathan, died responding to the attacks.
Mayor Bloomberg called the vote “a devastating indictment of Washington politics, a tragic example of partisan politics trumping patriotism.”
“The attacks of 9/11 were attacks on America, and we have a collective responsibility to care for the heroes — from all 50 states — who answered the call of duty, saved lives, and helped our nation recover,” he said.
Supporters considered yesterday’s vote to be the best shot at passing the bill — dubbed the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act — which would have given federal medical benefits to first-responders sick from Ground Zero dust.
The $7.4 billion bill died in a 57-42 vote in favor, falling three votes short of the 60 needed to break the filibuster and advance the legislation toward easy passage.
A group of 59 House members, led by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan), are pushing to have the measure attached to the must-pass tax legislation.
Democratic insiders say that’s a long shot.
All 41 Senate Republicans present, including at least a couple who favored the bill, stuck to the filibuster threat.
The Zadroga bill was named after the NYPD officer who responded on 9/11, and later died of respiratory disease that was the first case attributed to exposure at Ground Zero.
Zadroga’s dad, Joseph, said the vote made him “embarrassed for the country. James would have been embarrassed for the country.”
Additional reporting by Carl Campanile