Goldman, Garbarino, Gillibrand, Schumer, Nadler, Kean Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Fix World Trade Center Health Program Funding Shortfall

 

Washington, DC – Congressman Dan Goldman (NY-10), Congressman Andrew Garbarino (NY-02), Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Congressman Jerry Nadler (NY-12), and Congressman Tom Kean (NJ-07) joined advocates and survivors last week to introduce the ‘9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act of 2025,’ which would provide permanent and mandatory funding for the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP) to ensure that survivors and first responders don’t lose access to care. 

 

“Every New Yorker has been impacted by the profound loss and devastating pain from the September 11th attacks, including those like me who lived in Lower Manhattan at the time,” Congressman Dan Goldman said. “We owe a permanent debt to the first responders and unwavering support for the survivors who continue to bear the physical and emotional scars. The 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act will ensure that these heroes receive the health care they are owed. As representatives of New York, it is our bipartisan duty to guarantee that these American heroes receive the assistance they deserve from the federal government.” 

 

The WTCHP provides 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. 

 

Last December, Republican leadership took funding for the World Trade Center Health Program out of the end of year bipartisan budget deal after Elon Musk raised objections to the bill. The excluded funding would have ensured health care access for 9/11 first responders and survivors through the World Trade Center Health Program until 2040. By October 2028, the program will be forced to close enrollment to new 9/11 survivors and first responders, cut current enrollees’ health care, and deny medical monitoring and treatment for 9/11 heroes. 

 

The ‘9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act of 2025’ would update the program’s outdated funding formula to ensure adequate funding until the program’s expiration in 2090. The bill would also increase funding for data collection on 9/11-related conditions and expand access to mental health care for program members. 

 

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 September 2024, Congressman Goldman hosted the World Trade Center Health Program’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. 

 

In December 2023, Goldman 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 included a 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.