Sen. Schumer vows to find cash to plug $3B hole in 9/11 health program

WASHINGTON — West Virginia Democratic maverick Sen. Joe Manchin blocked Democrats from using their new budget bill to plug a looming $3 billion hole in the 9/11 health program, but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday has vowed to find the cash some other way.

“We will get this. There’s ample opportunity to get this in … other must-pass bills,” Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters on Capitol Hill. “Manchin didn’t want it in this bill. But there’s going to be opportunity, and we’re going to get it done.”

Numerous other lawmakers had called on Schumer to get the money in this bill, however, since it is being put together entirely by Democrats, and can pass the Senate in an expedited process called budget reconciliation with just Democratic votes.

The threat to the health program is not immediate, but officials who run it have warned that next year they will have to start preparing for cuts. Those would affect responders from all over the country, including the 50 to 100 responders enrolled from Manchin’s state. The program was made permanent in 2015, but the funding formula Congress passed for it has not kept pace with inflation or the growth in the population of sick responders and survivors of the terrorist attacks and aftermath.

[ Congress needs to fully fund $3B gap in 9/11 health program and time is running out: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand ]

There is pressure to pass the money now because historically, it has been much harder to advance 9/11-related bills under Republican rule, and Democrats are considered likely to lose ground in November.

Schumer’s pledge soothed the concerns of advocates who had been counting on the money getting passed in the reconciliation budget, but they remained worried.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” said John Feal, founder of the FealGood foundation. “I want to take Chuck Schumer at his word, but this will be very uncomfortable for the Senate Majority Leader if he doesn’t get it done. This $3 billion in the World Trade Center Health is going to treat a lot of 9/11 heroes. And if he fails, we’ll let him know we failed.”

[ N.Y.’s Republican congressional delegation wants Democratic leaders to fix 9/11 healthcare $3B deficit ]

The news that 9/11 funding failed to make it into the reconciliation measure also disappointed comedian and activist Jon Stewart, who helped get the original health program passed into law.

“I don’t even know what to tell you anymore. It’s just one piece of nonsense after the next piece of nonsense, and it’s a constant,” Stewart told the News after an event hammering the Senate for failing to pass a major bill to help veterans struggling with toxic exposure illnesses similar to 9/11 responders.

[ Trump says ‘nobody’s gotten to the bottom of 9/11′ as he shills for Saudi golf tour ]

“It’s exactly why we’re fighting for the funding for the veterans’ bill to be the way that it is — so that they can’t keep pulling this s–t on people,” Stewart said. “Here we’ve got Trump out there playing f—ing golf with the Saudis in the shadow of the towers, while the fund goes unfunded. What are we doing?”