9/11 Health bill shot down in Senate

The Senate voted down the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act on December 9, and Democrats are pointing fingers at Republicans for the failure to pass the bill.
The legislation would help provide health coverage to workers who were at Ground Zero following the terrorist attck and other people who are now suffering from health issues as a result of breathing in the toxic dust from the collapsed World Trade Center buildings. A version of the bill passed the House in September but was shot down 57 for, 42 against and 1 didn’t vote in the Senate. The bill needed 60 votes to pass.
Congressmember Joseph Crowley said, “considering the Republicans’ willingness to spend billions of dollars on tax cuts for the wealthy, it seems to me they should be equally as willing to invest in a plan that could mean the difference between life and death for those suffering as a result of their service to our nation on September 11th.”
“The Senate’s failure to bring the Zadroga bill to a vote is shameful,” said New York City Comptroller John Liu. “On September 11, 2001 we promised these heroic men and women that we would never forget their selfless courage. It’s an insult to their sacrifice that nine years later, partisan bickering and filibustering have further delayed an answer to their medical needs.”
One possibility for reviving the bill is to have it inserted into a large tax-cut bill that Republicans and Democrats are trying to pass before Congress ends its current session.
“We respectfully call upon Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid to attach the Zadroga Bill to the upcoming tax vote, so that we can finally begin to repay our debt to this country’s heroes,” said Denis Hughes, president of the New York State AFL-CIO.
The Zadroga bill is named after a New York police detective who participated in the rescue efforts at ground zero but later developed breathing complications that were common to first responders at the site. He died in January 2006.