2025-2026 Budget Shortfall
After years of efforts by 9/11 responders and survivors to get Washington to recognize the health impacts of the toxins at Ground Zero that were affecting thousands, the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP) was finally created by Congress in 2010 and was reauthorized in 2015, to remain open until 2090.
However, because of increasing medical costs and increasing numbers of ill responders and survivors coming forward the funding formula for the World Trade Center Health Program was not going to provide enough funds to cover all the care that is needed for those still suffering the physical and mental impact of 9/11. This includes the responders and survivors who will be newly diagnosed with 9/11-associated cancers caused by their toxic exposures in the coming years.
Unless action was taken to deal with the threaten budget shortfall, the World Trade Center Health Program would have been facing service cuts to 9/11 responders and survivors starting in 2027.
There have been efforts in Congress to resolve this issue and get the program the funding it needs.
First, an additional billion dollars of funding that was provided in the 2022 Omnibus spending bill, through the efforts of Senators Gillibrand and Schumer.
And again, in July of 2023, when Senators Gillibrand, Schumer were joined by Senator Mike Braun of (R-IN) in an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that provided an additional $444 million in funding for the program and corrected the problem that some Pentagon and Shanksville responders, including those that were active-duty Military could not join the Health Program.
While these efforts did postpone the date that service cuts would go into effect by several years, they did not resolve the problem.
In 2024, in the continuing effort to resolve this funding issue, Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Mike Braun (R-IN), along with Members of Congress Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY), Dan Goldman (D-NY) along with others, introduced the bi-partisan 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act of 2024 HR. 9101/S. 4724.
This legislation would have provided the funding needed to prevent cuts in services and deal with the program’s projected budget deficit and increased funding for research and data collection on 9/11 conditions.
Elements of that legislation had been included in the 2024-year end Omnibus Legislation as part of a bipartisan deal to fix this, but it was pulled out of the final bill at the last minute because of Elon Musk.
2025/2026 Effort
On February 26, 2025 Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Tom Kean (R-NJ), Dan Goldman (D-NY) along with other members of Congress introduced the 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act of 2025 (HR.1410 and S. 739) another effort to resolve the programs funding issues.
In January of 2026, through the bipartisan efforts of Congressman Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee Brett Guthrie (R-KY), and Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Charles Schumer (D-NY), a provision was inserted into the Omnibus budget bill to fix the World Trade Center Health Program funding formula. This provision will ensure funding for the program through 2040 and will avert any potential cuts in services to 9/11 responders and survivors.
While more work is still needed to increase research and data collection for the program as provided for in the legislation the program funding is now secure for the foreseeable future thanks to the work of the bi partisan members of Congress.
The provision can be viewed here, which was included in H.R. 7148, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2026, which was passed by both houses of Congress and signed by President Trump.
Bill Text on 2025 Bill
9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act of 2025
Bills
Bill Summary on 2025 Bill
Summary of 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act of 2025
CRS Summary of WTC Health Program January 10th, 2023
Cosponsors of 2025 Legislation
List of Senate Sponsors S. 739
List of House Sponsors HR.1410
Dear Colleague
Garbarino, Nadler, Kean, Goldman Dear Colleague 911 Funding Act of 2025 April 29, 2025
Memo in Support
Memo in Support October 29, 2025
News Articles
February 4, 2026 — Newsday — Spending package signed by Trump includes money to shore up WTC Health Program
The program, which provides health care to more than 135,000 people who have fallen ill from their exposure to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack sites, was facing up to a $3 billion shortfall over the next decade.
February 4, 2026 — The Broadsheet — Appropriations Measure for World Trade Center Health Program Clears Hurdles
A final vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on February 3 locked in budget allocations for the World Trade Center Health Program through 2040, and averted a funding shortfall.
February 3, 2026 — Sen. Chuck Schumer — Schumer, Gillibrand Deliver Full Funding for World Trade Center Health Program
Twenty-five years after the September 11th attacks, first responders and survivors continue to be diagnosed with serious and often life-threatening 9/11-related health conditions, underscoring the ongoing need for stable federal support for the program.
February 3, 2026 — Rep. Andrew Garbarino — Garbarino and NY Republicans Secure Full Funding for World Trade Center Health Program as Bill is Signed into Law
Today, legislation securing full, lifetime funding for the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP) was signed into law, ensuring permanent certainty of care for 9/11 responders and survivors.
February 3, 2026 — Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand — Gillibrand, Schumer Deliver Full Funding For World Trade Center Health Program
Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer celebrated Congress’ passage of legislation to fully fund the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP), which is now on its way to the president’s desk to be signed into law.
January 21, 2026 — NY Daily News — Heroes for the WTC heroes: Congress finally fully funds the 9/11 health program
Almost 25 years after the destruction of the World Trade Center by Al Qaeda terrorists and the devastating medical problems the resulting toxic plume inflicted on tens of thousands of people, Congress has finally decided to fully fund the health care for the heroes and victims of 9/11.
January 20, 2026 — Newsday — Give 9/11 first responders treatment, support they deserve
Nearly 25 years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, researchers like those at Stony Brook Medicine are still doing critical work to understand the psychological and physical impacts on first responders and others who for months sifted through the World Trade Center rubble and breathed the toxic air.