HEALTH
Do right thing on 9/11 fund: Stewart, pols
BY GABE HERMAN
Responding to alarm that the
9/11 Victim Compensation
Fund will slash claim awards
in the face of dwindling funds, a
bipartisan group of lawmakers announced
a bill to fully fund the program
and extend it permanently.
The legislators were joined by fi rst
responders, survivors, their families
and longtime advocate Jon Stewart to
announce the legislation on Feb. 25.
The bill’s name is Never Forget the
Heroes: Permanent Authorization of
the September 11th Victim Compensation
Fund Act.
On Feb. 15, the special master of
the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund
said it would cut claim awards by up
to 70 percent, because of a lack of
funds and a rise in 9/11-related illnesses
and deaths.
According to Rupa Bhattacharyya,
the V.C.F. special master, $5 billion
of the fund’s $7.3 billion has already
been spent, and the number of claims
is rising as more people get sick and
die from the toxic air that existed
around Ground Zero. As a result, she
said current claim awards would have
to be cut by 50 percent, and claims
from now on cut by 70 percent. The
fund is set to expire in December
2020.
About 40,000 people have applied
to the fund, which started in 2011.
Around 19,000 claims are pending.
Michael Barasch, a lawyer who
represents thousands who have fi led
claims with the fund, said he expected
cuts, but was surprised at the severity.
He noted a sharp increase in
claims fi led last year.
“These are all legitimate claims
— you’re seeing an explosion of cancers
and death cases,” he said. “Nobody
predicted this and that’s why
Congress didn’t set aside enough
money.”
He said more people also are only
now realizing their health problems
are linked to 9/11. They may not have
made the connection earlier because
the Environmental Protection Agency
said the air was safe at the time and
it’s now years later, with many living
in other parts of the country.
“In addition, you’re also seeing a lot
more people die now. Frankly, not a
day goes by without one of my clients
dying,” Barasch said. “It’s horrifi c.”
He expected the V.C.F. awards cost
could now be up to $10 billion.
“I know that’s not easy to get, but
it’s a moral imperative,” he said. “It’s
Congressmember Carolyn Maloney, second from right, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand announced legislation
to fully fund and make permanent the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund. They were joined by advocate
Jon Stewart, to the left of Gillibrand, 9/11 survivors and family members and first responders.
Speaking outside Stuyvesant High School were attorney Michael
Barasch and Lila Nordstrom, who leads Stuy Health, a post-9/11
group for the graduates of the elite high school who were there
during the terrorist attack and its aftermath.
the right thing to do for these people,
whose only thing they did wrong was
believe the E.P.A. when they said the
air was safe.”
At the Feb. 25 press conference,
Congressmember Jerrold Nadler
called passing the bill “imperative.”
“We designed the Victim Compensation
Fund to ensure that the tens
of thousands of responders and survivors
battling 9/11-related illnesses,
and those who may not yet know
COURTESY MICHAEL BARASCH
they are sick, have the resources they
need,” he said. “It is imperative that
we pass this bill as quickly as possible
to make the V.C.F. permanent.”
Jon Stewart said there’s an obligation
to “do the right thing.”
“We have a grand opportunity to
fi nally do the right thing and allow
those who always answered the call
for us to know that we have their
backs,” he said.
Lila Nordstrom was a student at
COURTESY CONGRESSMEMBER MALONEY’S OFFICE
Stuyvesant High School on 9/11 and
has suffered from respiratory and related
acid refl ux problems ever since.
She only fi led a claim with the Victim
Compensation Fund last year
— adding there was misunderstanding
among many survivors about who
could fi le.
“That information really didn’t
get to us very effectively until only
recently,” said Nordstrom, 35, who
runs Stuy Health, which advocates
for young people in the 9/11 survivor
community.
Young people, she said, have to
worry about dealing with long-term
illness but not knowing if funds will
be there for them.
“It sort of puts this cloud over your
life,” she said.
Stuyvesant students returned to
the school building on Oct. 9, 2001.
After such an unprecedented tragedy,
people didn’t know how to clean up
properly, and the school’s air ducts
weren’t cleaned and a heavily used
theater with carpeting was contaminated,
Nordstrom said.
She said when “Stuy” students returned
to school just a month after
9/11, they felt like they were part of
a statement being made about the city
getting back to normal — rather than
their health being prioritized. It felt
like part of a political game.
“It feels like that again,” she said.
Schneps Media TVG March 7, 2019 19