With Funds Running Out, The Heroes Of 9/11 Need Heroes Of Their Own

With each passing year, it is a little bit staggering to think that we are another year removed from the awful events of September 11th, 2001. The phrase “Never Forget” is foremost on the minds of many who lived through the worst day in American history, yet 23 years later it seems many people are doing just that, as the funding to help first responders who have fallen or will fall sick from various 9/11-related illnesses is in danger of drying up. Two guests appeared on 710 WOR’s Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning program to stress why we should never forget the sacrifices made by the men and women who answered the call that fateful day in service to their fellow New Yorkers.

Anthony D’Esposito (R- NY 4th) was a student at Hofstra University on 9/11. He is now co-sponsoring a bill that would make 9/11 a national holiday and want to preserve health care funding for first responders. “It’s not just about making this a national holiday, but it’s also about raising awareness,” he told Berman and Riedel. “One, yes, this should be a national holiday, but two, we also need our colleagues to support the 9/11 health care funding so that the funds don’t run out. When I spoke to Congressman Peter King the other day, we visited he 9/11 memorial together, and he talked about when they were first fighting for this funding. They spoke to actuaries and budget consultants who said you’d have plenty of money until the end of the century, and now we’re hearing by 2027 and 2028, we could run out of those funds.”

John Feal was a construction worker who got injured on “the Pile” in the days after 9/11. The efforts of his foundation, the FealGood Foundation, along with the work of comedian Jon Stewart, led to the renewal of federal funding in 2019. He is baffled by the mixed message Congress is sending. “You know, when I got hurt, I got hurt before everybody got sick, and I had to fight for my own benefits, and then I started teaching people how to fight for their own benefits, and then one thing led to another and here we are today, still advocating, still going to DC, and still being a pain in the ass to Congress. You know, today all members of Congress will say ,‘Never forget’. They’ll say, ‘I support first responders’, but then they’ll vote no against us, so it makes no sense.”

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