9/11 responders urge action on benefits bill
Ralliers press Pallone to move bill out of committee
http://atlanticville.gmnews.com/news/2010-01-28/Front_Page/911_responders_urge_action_on_benefits_bill.html
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer
1/27/2010
Despite the driving rain, more than 30 people rallied in front of Rep. Frank Pallone Jr.’s Long Branch office Monday to urge the congressman to move forward with a bill that would guarantee extended health care for 9/11 first responders and people who worked and lived near the World Trade Center.
Injured or ailing 9/11 first responders and supporters stood in a drenching rain to rally in front of Rep. Frank Pallone Jr.’s Long Branch office Monday.
KENNY WALTER The rally, organized by the Fealgood Foundation, urged the 6th District Democrat to move the James Zadroga 9/11 Health & Compensation Act (H.R. 847) out of committee to a floor vote in Congress.
“We are not deterred by the rain,” said John Feal, rally organizer and president and founder of the foundation. “We’ve been rained on for years.
“This is 800-plus 9/11 first responders in heaven crying on us today. We simply want a mark-up date. We will rally again and the sun will shine.”
Feal explained in an interview what the foundation’s mission is.
“At the end of 2005 I started the Feal- Good Foundation,” he said. “We do fundraisers and donate financial assistance, and we also advocate for 9/11 responders.”
According to the website, the foundation’s primary mission is to spread awareness and educate the public about the catastrophic health effects experienced by 9/11 first responders. In addition, the foundation provides assistance “to relieve these great heroes of the financial burdens placed on them.”
A secondary goal of the foundation is to create a network of advocacy on 9/11 health care issues.
“We not only advocate for ground zero workers, but show others how they can advocate for themselves and help others through grassroots activism,” the website states.
Feal is one of those injured 9/11 responders. After spending five days at ground zero, his left foot was crushed by 8,000 pounds of steel and he lost half of his foot.
“I’ve had multiple surgeries, all the way up to 2006, on both feet,” he added. “I had to fight for benefits. Those couple of years after I got hurt, physical and mental therapy are what saved my life.”
At the Jan. 25 rally, Feal explained that the foundation is advocating for Pallone to bring the bill to a vote by members of the House Subcommittee on Health, which Pallone chairs.
“A mark-up date is a date where the bill would go to the congressman’s committee,” he said. “One part of the bill already went through the Judiciary Committee.
“Congressman Pallone’s committee is the final step before the bill goes to the floor for a vote and to get it out of [the House of Representatives] and into the Senate,” he added.
In an interview last week, Pallone said there aren’t enough favorable votes to move the bill forward. But Feal disagreed.
“The yes votes outnumber the no votes,” he said. “We know for a fact that he has the support of his committee for this vote.
“We want leadership and we want a mark-up date,” he said at the rally.
Feal was joined at the rally by Gary White, of the 9/11 Police Aid Foundation, and Kenny Specht, of the New York City Firefighters Brotherhood Foundation.
Specht said the bill would cover more than 30,000 people. He also claims that Pallone has enough votes to move forward with
“One hundred percent of us want care, and we cannot get it,” he said. “Twenty votes are needed, and we have 26.
“Unfortunately, we are out here today … we have to remind this man that 26 is six more than what is necessary. There is no reason for us to be out here.”
White concurred.
“They are sick, they are dying,” he said. “We have enough votes. Twenty votes are necessary, and we have 26.”
However, in an interview last week, Pallone said he isn’t sure there are enough votes to move the bill out of committee.
“I’m trying to get the votes for the bill, but I’m not there yet,” he said. “Some of the members have problems because they don’t like entitlements.
“The cost of this is approximately $10 billion over 10 years,” he added. “We have to come up with a way to pay for that, which means a new tax.
“Some of the members are also concerned with the community part; they don’t mind providing the money to the first responders, but they don’t necessarily want to give an entitlement to the people that were working there or live down there,” he continued.
Pallone explained what the current health care system provides for 9/11 responders.
“Basically right now if you were a first responder at the World Trade Center or someone who lived or worked in Lower Manhattan, you can get health care and go to a clinic that the federal government set up in various places,” he said. “There is one in the Busch Campus at Rutgers and there are several in New York.
“Anything that is health-related, you get free health care and it’s paid by the federal government,” he added.
Pallone explained the changes under the proposed bill.
“What this bill does is say that it is an entitlement,” he said. “Right now we vote the money every year, just like what we do with the veterans’ clinic.
“We have provided the funding and we have provided care, but what they want this to be is a permanent entitlement, meaning they are guaranteed this care for the rest of their lives, and we don’t have to vote on this every year,” Pallone said. “I’m in favor of that.
“We are getting there, and I think eventually we will have the votes and we will be able to post the bill,” he said. “I don’t want to bring the bill up and have it defeated or have it amended.”
Feal explained the progress of the bill so far.
“In June the Judiciary Committee marked up one half of our bill, the compensation part, with a vote of 22-9,” he said. “That vote was supposed to be a lot closer, but I filled that committee room with 9/11 responders.
“In September he [Pallone] said he’d mark up our bill, and he never did, and in December he said it again and he never did,” he continued. “We were told we had to take a back seat to the national health care bill; we understood that, but we weren’t happy.”
According to Feal, the primary issue is that there are a lot of people suffering from not only injuries, but also severe illnesses.
“You can’t see all the illnesses in these men and women that are sick and dying,” he said. “This is a national crime against humanity, and those in power have responsibilities.”
Pallone said he has worked with the Fealgood Foundation for years and understands their position.
“They’re not happy,” he said. “They want the bill voted on immediately.
“Their fear is that 10 or 20 years from now they are going to have more problems and it is going to be harder for them to be activists.
“It’s legitimate, but we’ve got to make sure we have the votes.”
Feal said he will continue pushing for the mark-up, and if that is achieved, he will give Pallone credit.
“I expect him to give us a mark-up date,” he said. “I told his office if he gives us a mark-up date before the [Jan.] 25th, I would turn that rally into a press conference, I will hold his hand, and he will be our champion. I will make the man like Elvis in the 9/11 community.”
Feal said the foundation and its supporters will not give up the effort to move the bill out of committee and to a vote.
“If he doesn’t mark it up, then we are going to [rally] again in the near future,” he added.