Members of the New York Congressional Delegation are continuing their push for a full reauthorization of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act which expired last month, NBC News reported.
Despite public outcry, intensive TV coverage and pressure from the likes of comedian Jon Stewart, the bill is being held up in Congress by two House Republican committee chairmen who are worried that a full on reauthorization could create a mandatory spending program that's not paid for in its entirety.
The 2011 Zadroga Act re-opened the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund and created the World Trade Center Health Program which, among other things, "provides medical monitoring and treatment for emergency responders, recovery, and cleanup workers, and volunteers who helped after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the crash site near Shanksville, Pennsylvania."
