Congressman Goldman Secures $676 Million in Funding for 9/11 First Responders and Survivors Health Care Fund
Bipartisan, Bicameral Funding Amendment Led by Goldman Included in Final NDAA Bill Passed by House and Senate
Additional Relief Adds $444 Million, Addresses Funding Shortfall in the World Trade Center Health Program
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10) along with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Senator Mike Braun (R-IN), and Congressmen Andrew Garbarino (NY-02) and Jerrold Nadler (NY-12) secured $676 million to address funding shortfalls in the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP) budget. The ‘National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)’ for Fiscal Year 2024 includes their bipartisan, bicameral amendment to provide an additional $444 million to the program over the coming years to address the impending budget shortfall and $232 million to ensure that all first responders to the Pentagon and Shanksville attacks are covered by the program as well.
“Living in downtown Manhattan on 9/11, I will never forget watching the second plane hit the Towers and the soot-covered people walking up Hudson Street,” Congressman Dan Goldman said. “Today the House of Representatives renewed its commitment to the first responders and survivors whose lives were upended that day. This funding will go a long way to ensuring that we provide them with the coverage and care they deserve.”
After years of efforts and calls on the federal government, Congress established the WTCHP on a bipartisan basis in 2011 with a five-year authorization to provide medical treatment and monitoring for 9/11 responders and survivors suffering from the effects of the toxins at Ground Zero. The program covers the lifespans of all exposed, including responders and survivors of the attack on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, the Shanksville crash site, children who were in schools in downtown Manhattan on 9/11 and during clean-up, and those who have since experienced, or are expected to experience, adverse health effects that are linked to the attacks in the coming years.
The WTCHP was reauthorized in 2015 and extended through 2090 with bipartisan support. In 2022, lawmakers delivered $1 billion for the program in the end-of-year spending bill. Unfortunately, this funding is not enough to keep pace with the anticipated costs of providing the program’s services for the over 120,000 9/11 first responders and survivors, who span all fifty states and reside in 434 of the 435 congressional districts. This additional funding will ensure that the program will continue to serve impacted first responders and survivors in the coming years.
Congressman Goldman is fighting for all those suffering from the effects of the 9/11 terror attacks to be covered by the World Trade Center Health Program.
In February, Goldman joined Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Congressmembers Andrew R. Garbarino (NY-02), Jerrold Nadler (NY-12), and Anthony D'Esposito (NY-04), Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY), Senators Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), 9/11 health program advocates, and 9/11 responders and survivors to announce the bipartisan ‘9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act’ to close the remaining funding shortfall in the World Trade Center Health Program.
In September, Congressman Goldman hosted the WTCHP’s Dr. Joan Reibman and 9/11 Environmental Action’s Director Kimberly Flynn for an information and community feedback session on the WTCHP’s new 9/11 Youth Research Cohort. The Youth Research Cohort was created by the 2023 Federal Spending Bill to study the long-term health of individuals who were aged 21 years or younger – including those in utero – at the time of the 9/11 attacks and were exposed to the toxins released in the aftermath of the attacks on Ground Zero.
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