9/11 First Responders Bill: Senator Gillibrand Insists The Votes Are There

Dems: Congress Will OK Aid for 9/11 Responders
The latest on President Obama, the new Congress and other news from Washington and around the nation. Join the discussion. WASHINGTON (AP) — New York's two senators said Monday that the votes are there for Congress to approve a scaled-back bill providing extra benefits to emergency workers who responded to the attacks on the World Trade Center. But one of them, Charles Schumer, expressed concern that opponents might use a Filibuster to kill the bill as Congress tries to complete its busin...

A Handful of Republicans Have Finally Been Convinced to Help Sick Ground Zero Workers
Photo: Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images Don't look now, but the Democrats are starting to rack up a pretty sizable number of successes in what was at one time expected to be a quiet and largely uneventful lame-duck session. There was the tax-cut deal, which included an extension of Unemployment Benefits, then the Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and soon, it appears, even the long-stalled James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. And yes, it is strange that guaranteeing medical assistance f...

Dems: Congress will OK aid for 9/11 responders
(12-20) 06:21 PST WASHINGTON, CA (AP) -- New York's two senators said Monday that the votes are there for Congress to approve a scaled-back bill providing extra benefits to emergency workers who responded to the attacks on the World Trade Center. But one of them, Charles Schumer, expressed concern that opponents might use a Filibuster to kill the bill as Congress tries to complete its business for the year this week. "If no one does undue delay — just stands up and delays and delays and ...

Gillibrand, Schumer: New Momentum For 9/11 Health Bill
WASHINGTON, DC— Today, U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) announced they have made alterations to an important health bill for 9/11 First Responders—including trimming the bill’s Price Tag by $1.2 billion—in a move that is expected to clear the way for final passage of the measure before the end of this year. The senators said that they have received a commitment from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to hold a vote on the bill this week...

New START ratification comes into focus
NEW START RATIFICATION COMES INTO FOCUS.... It was a busy day for the pending nuclear arms treaty, New START, in the Senate yesterday. President Obama, Vice President Biden, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton furiously worked the phones, urging Republican senators to do the right thing; the Senate met in closed session so members could hear classified information related to the treaty; and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote a letter to each senator, imploring th...

Obama lobbies GOP senators to back arms pact
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama tried to sway reluctant Republican senators on Monday to back a new Arms Control treaty with Russia as GOP aversion to giving a politically damaged president another victory intruded on his National Security agenda. This Story Mullen calls on Senate to pass START Treaty Obama lobbies GOP senators to back arms pact Letter from Adm. Mullen to Sen. Kerry (pdf) Right Turn: Why START is stuck View All Items in This Story View Only Top Items in This Story This S...

Congressional Calendar December 21, 2010
The Senate plans to hold a key test vote on the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty. The vote to limit debate on the treaty with Russia will require 60 affirmative votes. It will take seven more yes votes to ratify the treaty. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., also plans to hold a morning vote on yet another temporary government funding bill, known as a continuing resolution. This one would fund the government through March 4, 2011. We expect quick action on the measure in the House...

Fear vs. Reason in the Arms Control Debate
Robert Wright on culture, politics and world affairs. Tags: Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Nuclear Weapons, Russia, START Treaty There are six living secretaries of state from Republican administrations, and every one of them — from Henry Kissinger through Condoleezza Rice — endorses the New Start Arms Control treaty with Gillibrand Joined By Maloney, 9/11 First Responders, Workers, Families Of Fallen Heroes, Lower Manhattan Residents Announce First-Ever Senate Hearing On James Zadroga 9/11 Health And Compensation Act This Month
New York, NY – On the heels of a key House panel’s passage last month of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) stood at Ground Zero today with Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Councilwoman Margaret Chin (D-Manhattan), 9/11 First Responders, workers, families who lost loved ones on 9/11 and Lower Manhattan residents to announce that on Tuesday, June 29th, the U.S. Senate will hold its first-ever hearing on the James Zadroga 9/...

Gillibrand: Votes there for first responder care
A New York senator is predicting that the scaled-back costs of a bill to provide Health Care to the police and Firefighters who were first on the scene of the country's worst Terrorist Attack will win Senate passage. Democrat Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said Monday that trimming the cost of the First Responders' Health Care bill from $7.4 billion to $6.2 billion has addressed concerns of some of her Republican colleagues. The bill would cover the Health Care costs of those who reached the World Trad...

Gillibrand: Votes there for first responder care
WASHINGTON (AP) — A New York senator is predicting that the scaled-back costs of a bill to provide Health Care to the police and Firefighters who were first on the scene of the country’s worst Terrorist Attack will win Senate passage. Democrat Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said Monday that trimming the cost of the First Responders’ Health Care bill from $7.4 billion to $6.2 billion has addressed concerns of some of her Republican colleagues. The bill would cover the Health Care costs...

Gillibrand: 9/11 Health Bill has Votes to Pass
New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said on CBS' "The Early Show" Monday morning that a bill to provide Health Care for First Responders to the Sept. 11 Terrorist Attacks has the votes to pass thanks in part to a decision to reduce the cost of the bill from $7.4 billion to $6.2 billion. She said "we have the support we need" to win passage immediately following a planned Senate vote on the New START Treaty. "We've been working very hard for many months and over the last several weeks o...

Obama woos senators on Russia treaty vote (AFP)
WASHINGTON (AFP) – A landmark US-Russia nuclear Arms Control treaty faced a key test vote in the US Senate as early as Tuesday as President Barack Obama ramped up pressure on wary lawmakers to back the accord. Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wooed Republicans by telephone, lawmakers said Monday, as the top US uniformed officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, wrote a letter unreservedly backing the pact. "This treaty has the full support of your uniforme...

Senators see chance for passing 9/11 health bill
WASHINGTON | Mon Dec 20, 2010 4:08am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A retooled bill providing medical care for Firefighters and other emergency responders to the September 11, 2001 attacks could be resurrected soon in the Senate, a few weeks after Republicans blocked the measure, backers said on Sunday. "We believe we are on a path to victory by the end of this week," said Senator Charles Schumer. But he was quick to add that unexpected obstacles could arise. He and fellow New York Senator Kirste...

Senators see chance for passing 9/11 health bill
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A retooled bill providing medical care for Firefighters and other emergency responders to the September 11, 2001 attacks could be resurrected soon in the Senate, a few weeks after Republicans blocked the measure, backers said on Sunday. "We believe we are on a path to victory by the end of this week," said Senator Charles Schumer. But he was quick to add that unexpected obstacles could arise. He and fellow New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand outlined for reporters some cha...

Senators see chance for passing 9/11 health bill
WASHINGTON | Mon Dec 20, 2010 4:08am EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A retooled bill providing medical care for Firefighters and other emergency responders to the September 11, 2001 attacks could be resurrected soon in the Senate, a few weeks after Republicans blocked the measure, backers said on Sunday. "We believe we are on a path to victory by the end of this week," said Senator Charles Schumer. But he was quick to add that unexpected obstacles could arise. He and fellow New York Senator Kirste...

Senators still see chance for 9/11 health bill
A retooled bill providing medical care for Firefighters and other emergency responders to the September 11, 2001 attacks could be resurrected soon in the Senate, a few weeks after Republicans blocked the measure, backers said on Sunday. “We believe we are on a path to victory by the end of this week,” said Senator Charles Schumer. But he was quick to add that unexpected obstacles could arise. He and fellow New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand outlined for reporters some changes they w...

Senators see chance for passing 9/11 health bill
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A retooled bill providing medical care for Firefighters and other emergency responders to the September 11, 2001 attacks could be resurrected soon in the Senate, a few weeks after Republicans blocked the measure, backers said on Sunday. "We believe we are on a path to victory by the end of this week," said Senator Charles Schumer. But he was quick to add that unexpected obstacles could arise. He and fellow New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand outlined for reporters some cha...

Senators see chance for passing 9/11 health bill
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A retooled bill providing medical care for Firefighters and other emergency responders to the September 11, 2001 attacks could be resurrected soon in the Senate, a few weeks after Republicans blocked the measure, backers said on Sunday. "We believe we are on a path to victory by the end of this week," said Senator Charles Schumer. But he was quick to add that unexpected obstacles could arise. He and fellow New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand outlined for ...

Schumer: Democrats' success 'joined at the hip' with Obama's
Democrats' fortunes are "joined at the hip" with President Obama's success, a top Senate Democrat suggested Monday. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), a top lawmaker in charge of the party's messaging in the Senate, said that there's a direct relationship between how Obama is faring, and how they'll fare. "We Democrats in the House and Senate know we're joined at the hip with the president," Schumer said on "Good Morning America" on ABC. "He does well, we do well, and vice versa." Schumer's admon...

More Child Brides, Please
Tue Dec. 21, 2010 3:00 AM PST Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) has yet to assume the gavel of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. But in these waning days of the 111th Congress, she's wasting no time hacking away at this country's credibility as a champion of basic human decency. Her most recent masterpiece: killing a bill that commits the country to combating forced Child Marriages abroad, and directs the Obama Administration to develop a multi-year strategy to address the issue. Ros-Lehtine...

President Obama Pushing for Passage of START Treaty by Years End
Tuesday, December 21, 2010 By Fred Lucas President Barack Obama, left, shakes hands with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., right, after signing the $858 billion tax deal into law in a ceremony in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex, Friday, Dec. 17, 2010 in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) Washington (CNSNews.com) - President Barack Obama has been working the phones to try to secure Senate ratification of a nuclear missile redu...

Joint Chiefs chair calls on Senate to pass START treaty in Tuesday vote
Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., tells reporters Monday at the U.S. Capitol that he will vote to approve the New START nuclear arms treaty with Russia. (Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images) WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff appealed to the Senate on Monday to quickly pass a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia, saying it was "vital to National Security." The letter from Adm. Mike Mullen could increase pressure on wavering Republican senators, who, if they voted no, would be in th...

Senate GOP's political opposition to 9/11 first responders bill draws criticism
 Senator Jon Kyl and other GOP Senators have been playing politics with the 9/11 First Responders bill, and they are losing. Republicans are fielding criticism from the left, and the right, over their opposition to a bill that would provide healthcare to patriotic Americans who became sick after working in the dust of the World Trade Center site after the 9/11 tragedy. The Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, named for James Zadroga, a 9/11 first responder who died in 2006 of respirato...

Schumer, Gillibrand Predict 9/11 Responders Bill Will Pass (VIDEO)
New York's two Democratic Senators are predicting that the bill to aid 9/11 First Responders will be able to pass the Senate -- after having previously been blocked by Senate Republicans -- in the wake of recent changes such as lowering the Price Tag from $7.4 billion to $6.2 billion. Appearing this morning on Good Morning America, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told George Stephanopoulos: "We now have the votes, we've made some modifications that some of our Republican colleagues requested and if...