Some 9/11 victims weren't compensated
http://www.northjersey.com/news/nationalpolitics/17212877.html
BY HERB JACKSON
WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
More than 100 people who developed serious illnesses from exposure to Ground Zero overflowed a Capitol Hill hearing room Tuesday and two House subcommittees debated whether the government should compensate them.
The victims, including police, firefighters, construction workers and even former bus driver Gil Gonzalez of Jersey City, likely would have qualified for federal payments from a fund created in 2001, only their symptoms showed up too late.
The 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund paid out more than $7 billion in taxpayer funds to nearly 5,600 survivors and victims, but was required by law to stop accepting claims in December 2003.
Gonzalez used to drive NJ Transit's No. 80 bus route in Jersey City, but after 9/11 spent a couple weeks taking Port Authority police officers from Journal Square through the Holland Tunnel, which was closed to other traffic, to Ground Zero.
"I was approximately 50 to 75 feet away from the pile," Gonzalez said, referring to the burning rubble of the collapsed twin towers. "We would also provide transportation to firefighters already there from one part of Ground Zero to another part of Ground Zero. We weren't supposed to have done that, but we did anyway."
About three months later, he started having trouble breathing, but doctors X-rayed him and found no problems. It wasn't until later that he was diagnosed with asthma and after that, blood clots, an aneurysm and then a stroke forced him to retire on disability.
Gonzalez watched the hearing of two House Judiciary subcommittees from an overflow room, as did Antonio Hernandez of Succasunna. Hernandez developed lymphoma after going to work in lower Manhattan 17 days after 9/11 to lay fiber-optic cables that helped rebuild the communications network the stock markets needed to reopen.
"I was supposed to have a radiation treatment today, but I postponed it to be here," Hernandez said.
Congress members on both sides of the political aisle praised the victims, but there was a split when it came to what should be done for them.
"They need our help, not more salutes," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., head of one of two subcommittees. "The pain and suffering of the living victims of 9/11 is real and cannot be ignored. I think it's clear that we, as a nation, must do more."
Nadler said that while terrorists were responsible for the attack, many of the subsequent injuries would have been avoided if the federal government did a better job warning about dangerous air quality and requiring protective equipment at the collapsed twin towers.
The administrator of the 9/11 compensation fund, Kenneth R. Feinberg, said there are about 11,000 people who have filed lawsuits seeking compensation for injuries that would have been covered if the symptoms had shown up before December 2003. Many have lung ailments from breathing air that tests have shown contained asbestos, glass fibers and lead, among other things.
"The only reason they weren't paid is they didn't manifest any injury from their exposure at the World Trade Center site until after the fund was dissolved," Feinberg said. He said that over the next five to 10 years, there have been estimates that another 25,000 to 30,000 victims could come forward.
Republicans at the hearing said construction companies that responded to New York City's call for help also needed protection from the lawsuits they are facing today from former employees.
"They stepped up as corporate good Samaritans, without having to protect themselves with contracts and insurance," Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said of the construction companies. "They worked 24/7 and did so without a profit motive. These corporate heroes should not be forgotten by their government."
King also said that if Congress creates a new compensation fund, it needs to ensure that it does not "hand the keys of the Treasury to trial lawyers."
More than 100 people who developed serious illnesses from exposure to Ground Zero overflowed a Capitol Hill hearing room Tuesday and two House subcommittees debated whether the government should compensate them.
The victims, including police, firefighters, construction workers and even former bus driver Gil Gonzalez of Jersey City, likely would have qualified for federal payments from a fund created in 2001, only their symptoms showed up too late.
The 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund paid out more than $7 billion in taxpayer funds to nearly 5,600 survivors and victims, but was required by law to stop accepting claims in December 2003.
Gonzalez used to drive NJ Transit's No. 80 bus route in Jersey City, but after 9/11 spent a couple weeks taking Port Authority police officers from Journal Square through the Holland Tunnel, which was closed to other traffic, to Ground Zero.
"I was approximately 50 to 75 feet away from the pile," Gonzalez said, referring to the burning rubble of the collapsed twin towers. "We would also provide transportation to firefighters already there from one part of Ground Zero to another part of Ground Zero. We weren't supposed to have done that, but we did anyway."
About three months later, he started having trouble breathing, but doctors X-rayed him and found no problems. It wasn't until later that he was diagnosed with asthma and after that, blood clots, an aneurysm and then a stroke forced him to retire on disability.
Gonzalez watched the hearing of two House Judiciary subcommittees from an overflow room, as did Antonio Hernandez of Succasunna. Hernandez developed lymphoma after going to work in lower Manhattan 17 days after 9/11 to lay fiber-optic cables that helped rebuild the communications network the stock markets needed to reopen.
"I was supposed to have a radiation treatment today, but I postponed it to be here," Hernandez said.
Congress members on both sides of the political aisle praised the victims, but there was a split when it came to what should be done for them.
"They need our help, not more salutes," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., head of one of two subcommittees. "The pain and suffering of the living victims of 9/11 is real and cannot be ignored. I think it's clear that we, as a nation, must do more."
Nadler said that while terrorists were responsible for the attack, many of the subsequent injuries would have been avoided if the federal government did a better job warning about dangerous air quality and requiring protective equipment at the collapsed twin towers.
The administrator of the 9/11 compensation fund, Kenneth R. Feinberg, said there are about 11,000 people who have filed lawsuits seeking compensation for injuries that would have been covered if the symptoms had shown up before December 2003. Many have lung ailments from breathing air that tests have shown contained asbestos, glass fibers and lead, among other things.
"The only reason they weren't paid is they didn't manifest any injury from their exposure at the World Trade Center site until after the fund was dissolved," Feinberg said. He said that over the next five to 10 years, there have been estimates that another 25,000 to 30,000 victims could come forward.
Republicans at the hearing said construction companies that responded to New York City's call for help also needed protection from the lawsuits they are facing today from former employees.
"They stepped up as corporate good Samaritans, without having to protect themselves with contracts and insurance," Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said of the construction companies. "They worked 24/7 and did so without a profit motive. These corporate heroes should not be forgotten by their government."
King also said that if Congress creates a new compensation fund, it needs to ensure that it does not "hand the keys of the Treasury to trial lawyers."
http://www.northjersey.com/news/nationalpolitics/17212877.html
BY HERB JACKSON
WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
More than 100 people who developed serious illnesses from exposure to Ground Zero overflowed a Capitol Hill hearing room Tuesday and two House subcommittees debated whether the government should compensate them.
The victims, including police, firefighters, construction workers and even former bus driver Gil Gonzalez of Jersey City, likely would have qualified for federal payments from a fund created in 2001, only their symptoms showed up too late.
The 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund paid out more than $7 billion in taxpayer funds to nearly 5,600 survivors and victims, but was required by law to stop accepting claims in December 2003.
Gonzalez used to drive NJ Transit's No. 80 bus route in Jersey City, but after 9/11 spent a couple weeks taking Port Authority police officers from Journal Square through the Holland Tunnel, which was closed to other traffic, to Ground Zero.
"I was approximately 50 to 75 feet away from the pile," Gonzalez said, referring to the burning rubble of the collapsed twin towers. "We would also provide transportation to firefighters already there from one part of Ground Zero to another part of Ground Zero. We weren't supposed to have done that, but we did anyway."
About three months later, he started having trouble breathing, but doctors X-rayed him and found no problems. It wasn't until later that he was diagnosed with asthma and after that, blood clots, an aneurysm and then a stroke forced him to retire on disability.
Gonzalez watched the hearing of two House Judiciary subcommittees from an overflow room, as did Antonio Hernandez of Succasunna. Hernandez developed lymphoma after going to work in lower Manhattan 17 days after 9/11 to lay fiber-optic cables that helped rebuild the communications network the stock markets needed to reopen.
"I was supposed to have a radiation treatment today, but I postponed it to be here," Hernandez said.
Congress members on both sides of the political aisle praised the victims, but there was a split when it came to what should be done for them.
"They need our help, not more salutes," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., head of one of two subcommittees. "The pain and suffering of the living victims of 9/11 is real and cannot be ignored. I think it's clear that we, as a nation, must do more."
Nadler said that while terrorists were responsible for the attack, many of the subsequent injuries would have been avoided if the federal government did a better job warning about dangerous air quality and requiring protective equipment at the collapsed twin towers.
The administrator of the 9/11 compensation fund, Kenneth R. Feinberg, said there are about 11,000 people who have filed lawsuits seeking compensation for injuries that would have been covered if the symptoms had shown up before December 2003. Many have lung ailments from breathing air that tests have shown contained asbestos, glass fibers and lead, among other things.
"The only reason they weren't paid is they didn't manifest any injury from their exposure at the World Trade Center site until after the fund was dissolved," Feinberg said. He said that over the next five to 10 years, there have been estimates that another 25,000 to 30,000 victims could come forward.
Republicans at the hearing said construction companies that responded to New York City's call for help also needed protection from the lawsuits they are facing today from former employees.
"They stepped up as corporate good Samaritans, without having to protect themselves with contracts and insurance," Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said of the construction companies. "They worked 24/7 and did so without a profit motive. These corporate heroes should not be forgotten by their government."
King also said that if Congress creates a new compensation fund, it needs to ensure that it does not "hand the keys of the Treasury to trial lawyers."
More than 100 people who developed serious illnesses from exposure to Ground Zero overflowed a Capitol Hill hearing room Tuesday and two House subcommittees debated whether the government should compensate them.
The victims, including police, firefighters, construction workers and even former bus driver Gil Gonzalez of Jersey City, likely would have qualified for federal payments from a fund created in 2001, only their symptoms showed up too late.
The 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund paid out more than $7 billion in taxpayer funds to nearly 5,600 survivors and victims, but was required by law to stop accepting claims in December 2003.
Gonzalez used to drive NJ Transit's No. 80 bus route in Jersey City, but after 9/11 spent a couple weeks taking Port Authority police officers from Journal Square through the Holland Tunnel, which was closed to other traffic, to Ground Zero.
"I was approximately 50 to 75 feet away from the pile," Gonzalez said, referring to the burning rubble of the collapsed twin towers. "We would also provide transportation to firefighters already there from one part of Ground Zero to another part of Ground Zero. We weren't supposed to have done that, but we did anyway."
About three months later, he started having trouble breathing, but doctors X-rayed him and found no problems. It wasn't until later that he was diagnosed with asthma and after that, blood clots, an aneurysm and then a stroke forced him to retire on disability.
Gonzalez watched the hearing of two House Judiciary subcommittees from an overflow room, as did Antonio Hernandez of Succasunna. Hernandez developed lymphoma after going to work in lower Manhattan 17 days after 9/11 to lay fiber-optic cables that helped rebuild the communications network the stock markets needed to reopen.
"I was supposed to have a radiation treatment today, but I postponed it to be here," Hernandez said.
Congress members on both sides of the political aisle praised the victims, but there was a split when it came to what should be done for them.
"They need our help, not more salutes," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., head of one of two subcommittees. "The pain and suffering of the living victims of 9/11 is real and cannot be ignored. I think it's clear that we, as a nation, must do more."
Nadler said that while terrorists were responsible for the attack, many of the subsequent injuries would have been avoided if the federal government did a better job warning about dangerous air quality and requiring protective equipment at the collapsed twin towers.
The administrator of the 9/11 compensation fund, Kenneth R. Feinberg, said there are about 11,000 people who have filed lawsuits seeking compensation for injuries that would have been covered if the symptoms had shown up before December 2003. Many have lung ailments from breathing air that tests have shown contained asbestos, glass fibers and lead, among other things.
"The only reason they weren't paid is they didn't manifest any injury from their exposure at the World Trade Center site until after the fund was dissolved," Feinberg said. He said that over the next five to 10 years, there have been estimates that another 25,000 to 30,000 victims could come forward.
Republicans at the hearing said construction companies that responded to New York City's call for help also needed protection from the lawsuits they are facing today from former employees.
"They stepped up as corporate good Samaritans, without having to protect themselves with contracts and insurance," Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said of the construction companies. "They worked 24/7 and did so without a profit motive. These corporate heroes should not be forgotten by their government."
King also said that if Congress creates a new compensation fund, it needs to ensure that it does not "hand the keys of the Treasury to trial lawyers."
