Pallone Applauds Inclusion of Funding for World Trade Center Health Program in Defense Authorization Bill

Washington, DC – Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) today applauded an additional $676 million in funding for the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program in a federal defense authorization bill, including $444 million to address the funding shortfall in the program and $232 million to extend coverage for military and civilian 9/11 responders at the Pentagon and Shanksville, PA. The Program provides no-cost medical monitoring and treatment for certified WTC-related health conditions to those directly affected by the 9/11 attacks in New York, the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

“We will never forget the sacrifices first responders made on that day and the survivors who continue to endure the physical and emotional trauma. This funding is essential to fulfilling our obligation to the individuals who require medical care and ensuring the program remains solvent for years to come,” Pallone said. “We can never fully repay the debt of gratitude we owe to responders and survivors, but we can make sure they have access to the medical care they rightfully deserve.”

Pallone has been a longtime advocate for first responders and survivors of the attacks on September 11, 2001. He negotiated House passage of the bipartisan James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 that was signed into law in 2011 and that established the World Trade Center Health Program and the Nationwide Provider Network. The bill also established the World Trade Center Program clinic at Rutgers' Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI) in Piscataway that has treated thousands of first responders and survivors. Earlier this year, he successfully urged the WTC program to add all types of uterine cancer to the list of covered conditions.