Service & Solidarity Action: 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding
Working people across the United States regularly step up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
In the wake of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, tens of thousands of emergency workers, construction workers and others rushed to the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the crash site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, to assist in rescue and recovery operations.
Those near ground zero were exposed to a toxic mix of dust and fumes from the collapse of the twin towers and the fires that lingered. Twenty-three years later, many of these individuals are suffering from serious cancers, respiratory diseases and other serious health problems.
We made a promise to provide medical care and take care of those who became ill because of that tragic day in American history. Unions led the fight to create the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program, and now we need to act again.
The WTC Health Program is once again facing a budget shortfall that will start to impact care and lead to budget cuts in 2028. The shortfall would occur just as we expect more people to need the program’s care due to an increasing number of 9/11 cancers.
Survivors of 9/11 live in every single state and in 434 of 435 U.S. congressional districts. Every member of Congress should support legislation to fully fund this program.
We hold in our hearts the memory of the flight crews of the four hijacked jetliners; the heroic firefighters, police officers, and other first responders who put themselves in harm’s way; and everyone we lost on that terrible day. We also remember the construction workers who worked tirelessly to move the wreckage and reclaim bodies, and the health care workers who saved so many lives. Their sacrifice and solidarity will never be forgotten.
We cannot leave behind anyone still suffering today.