Despite New Funding Offsets, US Chamber Of Commerce Still Opposing 9/11 First Responders Bill

Despite New Funding Offsets, US Chamber Of Commerce Still Opposing 9/11 First Responders Bill
Last week, ThinkProgress reported that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce had quietly lobbied to help Republicans kill the "James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010," a bill to compensate the First Responders and emergency workers who suffered illnesses from working at Ground Zero. The Chamber - a powerful trade association representing the health Insurance Industry, ExxonMobil, as well as dozens of foreign corporations - opposed the bill because it paid for Health Care benefits by en...

Tom Coburn looks to block passage of health-care benefits for 9/11 First Responders
By Michael J.W. Stickings Full credit, or almost full credit, to Jon Stewart for raising awareness of the urgent health-care needs of 9/11 First Responders at a time when most in the media, and so many in Washington, couldn't be bothered, and for advocating swift passage of the Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. As Slate's Chris Beam notes, examining Stewart's undesired role as partisan Political Activist, "[t]he bill wasn't as far from passage as it seemed -- Stewart just shined a ligh...

How Did Republicans End Up Against 9/11 Responders Bill?
With just hours left in the 111th Congress, Republican lawmakers find themselves the target of ire and scorn from the most unlikely of adversaries: the Firefighters and police officers who rushed into the burning towers on September 11 nearly a decade ago and worked at the site for months afterward. That predicament crystallized Tuesday when Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor during the 9/11 attacks, condemned Republicans as being on the wrong side of “Morality” and “obl...

New York Senators Say Christmas Miracle Coming For 9/11 First Responders
ABC News’ Matthew Jaffe reports: Once the Senate wraps up work on the START Treaty, it won’t be time for the Christmas break just yet. Before lawmakers head out of town for the holidays, the Senate will take another shot at a bill that would provide health care benefits and compensation to sick First Responders of the 9/11 attacks. “We are on the verge of a Christmas miracle,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., at a Press Conference today on Capitol Hill. Gillibrand and fello

Last Chance for 9-11 Health Bill
After new START gets ratification today, we’re going to apparently get the first test vote on the 9-11 Health Care bill. With Tom Coburn committed to blocking or at least delaying the bill, there’s no chance of unanimous consent, but the leadership of both parties is working out some kind of agreement to consider it. The House is prepared to pass the measure as well, but they’re waiting to see what the Senate will do. Basically, nobody wants to come back the week after Chris...

Grassley still undecided on 9/11 first responders bill
While it’s important to provide assistance to 9/11 First Responders sickened by the toxic dust from the collapse of the World Trade Center, that assistance should not create another unsustainable entitlement program, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said Tuesday in a statement to The Iowa Independent. Legislation, known as the Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, has been pending in the Senate for most of the year. It’s passage has been blocked by Republicans during the lame-duck sessio...

Congress Poised To Expedite 9/11 Responders Bill Over GOP Objections
After months of GOP obstruction, a bill to help 9/11 First Responders cover their mounting Health Care costs is expected to zip through Congress. In addition to being a feather in the cap of New York and New Jersey Democrats -- who have been pushing the bill for months -- it will likely enjoy the distinction of being the last legislative item to pass the unusually productive 111th Congress lame duck session. Republicans have blocked the bill in both the House and Senate over objections to its ...

9/11 First Responders Health Care Bill Faces Key Test Vote In Senate
WASHINGTON — The Senate is headed for a key test vote on a bill that would provide up $6.2 billion to aid people who became sick after being exposed to Toxins at the World Trade Center ruins. Bill supporters say they're confident they have the 60 votes needed to prevail on the vote expected Wednesday. But they worry that Republicans who oppose the measure could try to stall a final vote as the holidays near and Congress' Lame Duck session winds down. The bill would provide medical and ec...

First responders bill another propaganda ramrod by Dems
There is not a week that goes by that there is not something to fight about in Congress, and this week is no exception. On the fight card this week was the 9/11 First Responders Bill, formally known as the James Zadroga 9/11 Health Bill, named after a deceased New York Police Department detective who had worked in the toxic plume at Ground Zero. At issue is that Lame Duck Democrats are trying to push the bill through, as they are in the habit of doing, without providing for the opportunity for b...

Rachel Maddow Hails Shep Smith Over 9/11 First Responders Bill (VIDEO)
You read this correctly -- on Tuesday night's episode of her show, Rachel Maddow reached across the aisle to praise Fox News host Shepard Smith. Smith has recently been criticizing Republican senators' efforts to block a Health Care bill for 9/11 First Responders. "All hail Shep Smith at Fox News...and I'm not kidding," Maddow said. "Because Fox News can get callbacks from Republican senators, Shep Smith making a hullabaloo on his show about the Republicans who are not supporting Health Care f...

"Where's His Heart?" Dem Senators & First Responders Rip Coburn For Opposing 9/11 Health Bill
ABC News’ Matthew Jaffe reports:  A group of senators from New York and New Jersey today joined with dozens of First Responders to blast Republican opposition to the 9-11 health bill as the measure’s chances of passage dim with each passing day before Christmas.  “I believe we have the votes to prevail. The only thing standing in our way is people who will try to run out the clock,” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, said at a Press Conference on Capitol Hill.  Schumer wa

Hoyer still 'hopeful' House can pass 9/11 first-responders health bill this week
A top House Democrat said Tuesday that Legislation providing healthcare services for 9/11 Rescue Workers is still on track for a House vote this week. After talks with bill supporters in the Senate, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said he remains hopeful the upper chamber will send the proposal back to the House "by tonight or early tomorrow morning." Hoyer said he spoke Tuesday morning with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), a lead sponsor of the Senate Bill, to discuss plans for f...

Why are Senate Republicans refusing to support 9/11 first responders?
 Why are Senate Republicans refusing to support 9/11 responders? Senate Republicans unanimously filibustered the 9/11 First Responders bill earlier this month. Tuesday Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma said he will block the bill, even if it means 9/11 responders have to wait until next year for benefits.  In spite of Senate Republicans' opposition to a bill that would provide healthcare to patriotic Americans who became sick after working in the dust of the...

Sen. Gillibrand on 9/11 Responders Bill: These Are Our Bravest, Now We Have to Stand by Them
There’s new hope for a Health Care bill that would help 9/11 responders now suffering from ailments caused by the dust and smoke they were exposed to at Ground Zero. Senator Harry Reid is promising a revote on the $7 billion bill. NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand joined Jon Scott to explain why it’s so important to get this passed. Peter Johnson, Jr. Asks: Have We Forgotten the 9/11 Heroes?...

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...

Mean Regression
This item is cross-posted from The New Republic. The last few months of 2010 have been illuminating when it comes to the priorities of the Republican Party. By jumping at the Obama-McConnell tax deal, Republicans underscored the fact that protecting the marginal Tax Rates of high earners--not reducing the federal Deficit, and not even denying Obama legislative success--is their party's primary focus at the federal level. It says something that most Conservatives who opposed the tax deal did so...

Coburn Will Block 9/11 First Responders Bill, Potentially Killing Its Chance Of Passage
Source: Think Progress Coburn Will Block 9/11 First Responders Bill, Potentially Killing Its Chance Of Passage Pressure has been mounting on Republicans to relax their opposition to a bill to would provide health benefits to 9/11 first responders after Senate Republicans unanimously filibustered it earlier this month, but Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) told Politico yesterday that he will likely block the measure yet again. Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said last night that the Sen...

Shep Smith Calls Out Sen. Coburn Over His Threat To Block 9/11 First-Responders Bill
Except for maybe Jon Stewart, no one else has been out ahead of the 9/11 First-Responders Bill as Fox News Shepard Smith. Last Friday after The Daily Show dedicated most of the previous night’s program to the oddly Controversial bill, Smith piled on, asking how congressional members who have held up the bill providing Health Care to emergency relief workers on 9/11 “sleep at night.” Yesterday he called out ever single GOP lawmaker by name who turned down a request to join him o...

By pushing for the 9/11 first responders health bill, Jon Stewart steps onto the political playing field.
By Christopher BeamPosted Monday, Dec. 20, 2010, at 7:09 PM ET Jon StewartIn the never-ending debate about whether Jon Stewart is a comedian with opinions or an Activist who happens to make jokes, he's always argued for the former. When Tucker Carlson accused Stewart of liberal hackery on Crossfire in 2004, Stewart famously played The Joker card. "You're on CNN," he said. "The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls." It's true—Stewart leans left, but the jokes always ...

Crucial Vote On 9/11 Health Care Bill Expected Wednesday
NEW YORK (CBS 2 / WCB S880)  - In the the nation’s capital, New York Senator Chuck Schumer said Wednesday was decision day for a vote in the Senate on the long-stalled 9/11 Health Care bill, Jay Dow reports. “We will see once and for all who will keep their promise to never forget the heroes of 9/11,” Schumer said. The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act is named for former NYPD detective James Zadroga, whose supporters said died of res...

An Unpaid Debt
Anyone who was in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, remembers how the ash, paper and dust of the collapsing towers blew across Lower Manhattan. For days afterward, there was that peculiar smell — of burned paper and chemicals and death. That was the air that filled the lungs of tens of thousands of Firefighters, police officers, nurses, Paramedics, Soldiers and civilian volunteers who toiled for months to uncover the dead. More than nine years later, many of those First Responders are dead...

Key test vote in Senate for 9/11 health bill
WASHINGTON—The Senate is set for a key test vote on a bill to aid people who became sick after being exposed to Toxins at the World Trade Center ruins following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. New York Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand said they were confident they had the 60 votes needed to prevail on the vote expected Wednesday after the Senate completes its work on an Arms Control treaty with Russia. But they worry that Republicans who oppose the measure could try to s...

9/11-bill roadblock boor
Meet the Grinch who stole Christmas for thousands of 9/11 First Responders -- US Sen. Tom Coburn. The Oklahoma Republican announced he will try to block the 9/11 health-care bill from reaching the Senate floor before Congress leaves for its winter break -- possibly dooming the long-stalled Legislation forever. "This is a bill that's been drawn up and forced through Congress at the end of the year on a basis to solve a problem that we didn't have time to solve and we didn't get done," Coburn ...

House passes legislation overhauling food-safety laws
The House passed a measure to overhaul the nation's food-safety laws by a vote of 215 to 144 Tuesday afternoon, and President Obama is expected to sign it into law as soon as Wednesday. This Story House passes Legislation overhauling food-safety laws Food-safety measure passes Senate in Sunday surprise For food-safety overhaul, Lobbyists rushed to the table Procedural problem threatens Food Safety bill The Food Safety bill View All Items in This Story View Only Top Items in This Story The vot...

1st Responders Press Senate Over 9/11 Health Bill
NEW YORK (CBS 2/ WCBS 880/1010 WINS) — First Responders who became sick after working at Ground Zero following the World Trade Center terror attacks were in Washington Tuesday, hoping the trip would be the last one they needed to make. Supporters were optimistic the Senate would approve a scaled-back version of the measure before the Lame Duck session ends, Jay Dow reported. A newly revised version of the bill cuts costs by a billion dollars, essentially self-funds the program, and in doin...