Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2009

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I rise today in strong support of the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. Yesterday we observed Pearl Harbor Day, marking the 69th anniversary of that tragic attack on American soil. Nine years ago our Nation was attacked once again. September 11, 2001, was a day of indescribable horror, not only for New York, a city I am proud to call home, but for the entire Nation.

In the minutes, hours, and days after the Twin Towers collapsed, thousands of first responders rushed to lower Manhattan to dig through the rubble. First they searched for survivors. We all remember the horrible--this is vivid in my mind, the signs people holding: Have you seen this person? It is my husband, my wife, my child, my parent. Because no one knew where everyone was amidst the rubble. We thought--unfortunately we were disappointed, deeply--that there were survivors amidst the rubble and time was of the essence to find them.

Then, in days later, when we realized that there weren't many survivors, there was still a great need to, sadly, search for the bodies of those who perished. You can imagine the anguish of families, who wanted a sign, something--remains of their loved ones--and that search continued. Valiant men and women, not just from New York or New Jersey or Connecticut but from Minnesota and Colorado and all around the country, came--firefighters, first responders, police officers, ordinary citizens--to help us in our horrible hour of need--a moment, a day, a week, a month that I will never forget.

I still look out my window in my home in Brooklyn, every day when I am home, and know that those two Twin Towers are no longer there and I think of the people I knew who were lost, a guy I played basketball with in high school, a businessman who helped me on the way up, a firefighter who dedicated his life to my neighborhood in Brooklyn where I was raised, getting people to donate blood.

We think of all these people. They were resolute, they were brave, they were selfless--those who were lost and then those who came to the rubble. Construction workers. They didn't ask if they were going to get paid. They didn't ask what the danger was to them. They were brave, they were resolute, they were selfless as were firefighters, policemen, EMTs, and others.

Amid the chaos and carnage, they said to themselves: This is what I am trained for, and I will do whatever it takes to help, even if it means risking my life.

So the dust has settled and the ruins of the World Trade Center have been cleared away. The effects of the attack are still being felt, now more than ever, by thousands of those first responders.

Medical experts have determined that on September 11 and the days after, the air around Ground Zero was filled with microscopic cement and glass particles. This dust has caused thousands of first responders to develop chronic respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases.

Just last week, we lost 9/11 first responder Kevin Czartoryski, a NYPD narcotics detective. He is the third hero to pass away in the past month from the medical complications related to the rescue effort.

Back in 2006, doctors from the Mount Sinai Medical Center that my predecessor, or my former colleague, now Secretary of State, then-Senator Clinton, worked so hard to bring into the picture found that a staggering 70 percent of 9/11 rescue workers suffered from health problems, many of which were irreversible.

The fact is, right now there are people who rushed to those towers who do not know they are ill. The symptoms of these illnesses and diseases, when you get these particles in your lungs and in your gastrointestinal system, the cancers and other illnesses that develop, take years and years before they can be detected. So we know that in the coming years there are going to be more heroes who will become ill, and those who are already suffering may see their conditions worsen.

The 9/11 Health and Compensation Act will finally put these first responders at ease with the knowledge that they will receive treatment for health problems related to rescuing victims of the attack and helping clear the debris from Ground Zero. The bill ensures that those at risk of illness have access to medical monitoring and that all of those who get sick from exposure have a right to consistent treatment. The bill also ensures ongoing data collection and analysis for exposed populations, so we can try to cure or treat in advance people who might become ill.

Critically, the legislation would ensure steady funding for those vital programs so that those in treatment no longer have to wonder whether Congress will appropriate adequate funds to allow their treatment to continue year to year. We have appropriated funds every year. Everyone in this Chamber has voted for those funds. But when it is yearly funds and you need an ongoing medical regime, it is very hard to plan, to buy that machine, to set up a team that would work for 3 or 4 or 5 years under normal circumstances. The heroes who rushed to the towers deserve to be guaranteed proper treatment, not to have their medical needs subject to the whims of what is going on at that month, that time in Washington.

In addition to addressing health needs, the bill would reopen the victims compensation fund, allowing those who missed the arbitrary deadline of December 22, 2003, to seek compensation. This deadline unfairly barred responders who became ill or learned of the fund after the date. You rushed to the tower. As of 2003, you were aware of the fund, but you did not apply. You did not have anything wrong with you. Six months later, you get cancer of the lungs or cancer of the esophagus or stomach, which we found so many getting. Why unfairly prevent them?

So this bill is an opportunity to send a clear message to the thousands of first responders who risked their lives on that fateful day 9 years ago. We say to them: In our Nation's time of need, you gave us your all. Now, in your time of need, we will give you our all.

Let's not forget, on both sides of the aisle, we have struggled mightily to help our veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2001 and 2002, we saw that veterans health care was not up to snuff. There was a bipartisan effort to bring it up to snuff, to make the health care adequate for the new needs of the veterans who risked their lives for us in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why? Because this Nation has a tradition: When you volunteer--as our soldiers do today--and risk your life to protect our freedom, particularly at a time of war, we will be there for you and deal with your medical problems that were caused in that conflict.

I would argue to every one of my colleagues here today, those who rushed to the towers in those fateful hours and days after 9/11 are no different from our veterans whom we exalt. It was a time of war. Our Nation was attacked. They volunteered. No one compelled them to do it. They rushed to danger as our veterans do. So when they are injured, which has happened, they should be treated the same as our veterans. This is nothing we should play politics with, just as we do not play politics with veterans' needs.

I want to make sure everybody hears us. I know there are other legislative concerns, whether it is tax bills or funding bills or whatever. I would say to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, it is not fair and it is not right to say that we will not remember these people who volunteered and risked their lives to protect our freedom in a time of war; we will not help them until X or Y or Z gets done. It is not fair. It is not right.

It is also time for those who are against the bill to stop spreading lies about it. They say it is vulnerable to fraud. It has been very tight. My good colleague, the Senator from New York, Mrs. Gillibrand, has documented thoroughly and completely how the existing compensation has not created any fraud or other types of problems.

We are here. We have debated this bill for years. It has been like running a marathon, and this is the last 100 yards. Thousands of first responders, police officers, firefighters, construction workers, and other heroes who were ordinary citizens from each of the 50 States are waiting for us to act. And for all too many of them, help cannot come soon enough. The finish line is in view. Let us, on both sides of the aisle, cross it together. I implore my colleagues to vote in favor of the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act.

Before I sit down, I wish to praise my colleague who has led the fight, Senator Gillibrand from New York. She has made it her passion. She works for it hours every day and has done an amazing job. I also thank our colleagues on this legislation, particularly my colleagues from across the river, Senators Lautenberg and Menendez, who have been our partners. I thank Peter King, Carolyn Maloney, and Jerrold Nadler in the House for their work and many others in New York and other delegations. Again, I hope those efforts will not go in vain, not because of the people who worked on the bill like we did but because of the people who need our help, those who have all kinds of illnesses because they volunteered to help our great Nation and preserve its freedom in a time of war.

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