- Joined
- Apr 13, 2011
- Messages
- 34,951
- Reaction score
- 16,311
- Gender
- Undisclosed
- Political Leaning
- Socialist
WASHINGTON -- Jon Stewart spent years upbraiding Congress from his perch on the set of "The Daily Show," perhaps never to so great an effect as when he embarrassed lawmakers over their failure to help the ailing first responders of 9/11.Stewart left the show in August, but the cause of the rescuers who rushed into that nightmarish catastrophe 14 years ago -- at great personal risk and ongoing cost -- is still very much on the former show host's mind now that the 9/11 law that Congress did eventually pass is starting to expire.
According to sources familiar with the planning, Stewart will be taking a different, more direct tack to help the heroes of 9/11 now that he's out from behind his studio desk. He plans to put his feet to work along with his mouth, and walk the halls of Congress next Wednesday with about 100 responders while they make personal appeals to members. Their goal is to help renew the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which starts phasing out next month.
Stewart first broached the idea with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D - N.Y.), the 9/11 bill's lead sponsor in the Senate. Several responders were in the audience when the senator appeared on one of Stewart's final shows in July, said Glen Caplin, a former Gillibrand aide who is coordinating the Capitol Hill push for his new employer, the Global Strategy Group.
The last 9/11 bill, named after an NYPD detective who died after exposure to the toxic site, passed in 2010, more than nine years after the attacks, when Congress was finally cajoled into addressing the mounting problems suffered by Americans who rushed from all over the nation to help in the aftermath.
But funding for the $1.6 billion health and monitoring effort ends in October. It has enough cash on hand to keep operating for up to another year, but the resulting uncertainty could cause problems for patients and push doctors to seek more permanent work. More than 72,000 responders and survivors from every Congressional district are enrolled in health programs funded by the bill.
Read more @: Jon Stewart To Walk Halls Of Congress With 9/11 Responders
Jon Stewart continues to be a great person. Its sad that this has to happen though. It should be a no brainer to give 9/11 first responders the assistance they need.