A bill to aid ailing 9/11 responders that was defeated in an ugly fashion got new life yesterday when President Obama threw his support behind it.
“The president looks forward to signing the 9/11 health bill into law, once it passes both houses of Congress, to help the first responders whose health and livelihood were devastated by the events of September 11th,” the White House said in a statement released last night.
The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act would provide $7.4 billion in federal relief for Ground Zero workers suffering health problems. The measure failed to pass last month, with Democrats and Republicans accusing each other of playing politics.
The bill — named for an NYPD cop who died from an illness attributed to his work at Ground Zero — was defeated 255-159 after Democrats raised the threshold for passing it from a simple majority to a two-thirds majority of 290 votes to avoid the addition of “poison pill” Republican amendments.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler plans to bring the bill back to the floor next month for a simple majority vote.