NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – A bipartisan group of lawmakers is joining former “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart for a rally on Capitol Hill Monday to call on Congress to make sure money keeps flowing to the fund that helps those sickened by toxic post-9/11 conditions.
More than 20,000 people have received payments from the 9/11 Victims Fund, including not only first responders but people who lived and worked downtown after the attacks.
The fund has paid out about $5 billion to roughly 21,000 victims, but only $2 billion remains for them and thousands more are expected to apply before the 2020 expiration date.
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Congressman Max Rose says with cash running out and people still developing 9/11-related conditions, the money can't stop.
“We are proposing this compensation be funded and protected for basically the duration of this century,” Rose said.
“It is our responsibility to do something for them,” he said. “It’s our responsibility to be there for them in the same way they were there for us.”
New York representatives from both sides of the aisle are being joined by 9/11 first responders and others in D.C. to push for new legislation that would inject more cash into the fund.
Comedian Jon Stewart has been shining a light on the issue for years and is among those rallying on Capitol Hill.
“It's hard not to be angry. It's hard not to (be), I think dumbstruck and angry,” Stewart told The Daily News. “You can't believe it's real. Like the idea that these guys, that (advocate John) Feal's loading guys up in a van that can carry wheelchairs so the guys with stage four cancer can come down and plead their case again -- it's embarrassing.”
Stewart wrote an op-ed in The Daily News Monday urging Congress to pass legislation.
Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted in support of the effort Monday afternoon, writing: “This should be an easy call, a unanimous vote — if you say you’ll never forget September 11th, then you must vote to give our 9/11 first responders and survivors the money they were promised.”
The mayor also gave a nod to Stewart, writing: “Your hometown is with you, Jon.”