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Some local lawmakers gathered
Saturday to urge the federal government to renew plans
for a national processing center to deal with health
issues related to the September 11th terrorist attacks.
Representatives Carolyn Maloney, Vito Fossella, and
Jerrold Nadler joined advocates for September 11th
workers for a protest Saturday afternoon near the World
Trade Center site.
"With just two weeks to go before Christmas last week,
the administration became the Grinch who stole
healthcare," said Maloney.
"Now, note, this is not for people in New York," said
Nadler. "This is for people who came to New York and
then went home, or for people who lived in New York and
now live elsewhere, but now the administration is
dropping the plan because it says Congress has not
provided enough money. That takes a lot of chutzpah."
Federal health officials filed paperwork this week
scrapping plans to hire a company to set up the center,
saying the project could cost about $165 million, far
more than the $52 million Congress provided.
"It's time to put an end to the nonsense of having to
continually come back and beg for money to take care of
the rescue workers who stepped up," said James Slevin of
the Uniformed Firefighters Association.
The plan would have provided federally funded, uniform
treatment for first responders all over the country.
Currently, rescue workers who live outside New York
often still have to travel to the city to get treatment.
Marvin Bethea, a retired paramedic, attributes his
health problems to the work he did after 9/11. He says
to ask others like him to travel so far for health care
is simply not realistic.
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