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President Barack Obama today signed into law an aid bill giving federal health benefits to first responders to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“On Sunday, January 2, 2011, the President signed into law: H.R. 847, the ‘James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act,’ which establishes the World Trade Center Health Program and extends and expands eligibility for compensation under the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001,” the White House said Sunday in a press release.
White House spokesman Bill Burton confirmed earlier Sunday that Obama would interrupt his vacation in Hawaii to sign the bill.
The $4.3 billion bill passed Congress at the close of the lame-duck session on Dec. 22, after Democratic New York Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer struck a compromise with Senate Republicans to win its passage.
The bill provides five years of health care coverage and reopens a compensation program for those who became ill after working on the toxic debris pile or while living and working nearby.
On the insistence of Republican lawmakers, it will also include provisions to study health information technology and the possibility of providing the health care through hospitals operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to people familiar with the talks.