About the Law
The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act was originally passed by Congress at the end of 2010 and signed into law by President Obama after years of advocacy by 9/11 responders, survivors, their families, Unions, advocates and dedicated legislators.
Below is information about the passage of the original law, the 2015 reauthorization and the 2019 reauthorization of the Victim Compensation Fund.
2010 Passage of Original James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act
In 2009, what would become the final version of the proposed law, HR. 847, S. 1334, was sponsored in the House of Representatives by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), and Peter King (R-NY) with 112 other members of the House. In the Senate, it was led by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) along with 9 other sponsors. Learn more.
2015 Reauthorization
On April 14th 2015, legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 1786 and in the United States Senate, S. 928 , and the “James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Reauthorization Act of 2015”, to renew and make permanent the Health and Compensation programs that were helping thousands of injured and ill 9/11 Responders and Survivors. Learn more.
2019 Reauthorization of Victim Compensation Fund
With the announcement by the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund in September of 2018, that because of the lack of resources, the Fund would have to plan to cut pending claims of injured and ill 9/11 responders and survivors by 50% and future claims by 70%, U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Cory Gardner (R-CO), U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), and U.S. Representatives Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY-12), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY-10), and Peter T. King (R-NY-2) in 2019 introduced the bipartisan legislation “Never Forget the Heroes: Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act” , HR.1327/S.546. Learn more.
2021-2022 Effort to Deal with Impending Budget Shortfall for World Trade Center Health Program
With the World Trade Center Health Program facing an impending budget shortfall starting in 2025, U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), and U.S. Representatives Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY-12), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY-10), and Andrew Garbarino (R-NY-2) introduced in August 2021, the bipartisan legislation, “9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act” (HR.4965/S. 2683). Its purpose was to ensure the adequate funding for the World Trade Center Health Program so it can continue to provide medical treatment and monitoring to injured and ill 9/11 responders and survivors.
While the legislation did not pass, Senator Gillibrand and Schumer did manage to include in the end of the year Omnibus a billion dollars in additional funding and authorizations for the WTC health Program to create a new research cohort to better study the impact on the health of survivors, especially those that were children at the time. Learn more.
2023 Budget Shortfall
On July 27th, 2023 Senator Kirsten Gillibrand ( D-NY), along with Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) sponsored an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act ( NDAA) , amendment #1065 that was successfully adopted by an overwhelming bi partisan vote of 94 to 4. Four Senators, Rand Paul (R-KY), Mike Lee (R-UT), Tommy Tuberville, (R-AL), Markwayne Mullins (R-OK) out of hundred voted no.
The Amendment ensured that all 9/11 responders to the Pentagon and Shanksville who were active-duty DOD military or civilians, along with other Federal employees, will be able to join the program. Currently some responders to the Pentagon and Shanksville sites are prevented from joining.
Help to close the impending funding shortfall facing the World Trade Center Health Program by providing an additional $444 million dollars to the program over the next ten years.
This amendment was fully paid for under legislative rules. Learn more.
2024 Budget Shortfall
To fix the projected funding shortfall Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Charles Schumer (D-NY), Robert Casey (D-PA), Mark Warner (D-VA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), 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) and other members, introduced new bi-partisan legislation, the 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act of 2024 HR. 9101/S. 4724 in July of 2024.
This effort was on the verge of succeeding in December 2024 when the end of the year Omnibus Legislation for the Continuing Resolution, HR. 10445, contained a provision to deal with the impending budget deficit in the program.
That agreed on bill failed to be passed; instead a version of the continuing resolution was passed without this provision and many other agreed to provisions leaving the World Trade Center Health Program funding issue still unresolved at the end of 2024. Learn more.
2025 – 2026 Budget Shortfall
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. Learn more.