From critic to advocate: Jon Stewart throws weight behind New York firefighters
Comedian Jon Stewart joined members of the New York City Fire Department to urge Congress to extend healthcare benefits for first responders after the 9/11 attacks at a rally Wednesday in front of the Capitol.
In 2010, Mr.Stewart was influential in persuading Congress to pass the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which had been stuck in congressional purgatory since 2006 because of the bill鈥檚 .
Over 70,000 of the police officers and firefighters who worked for months to clean up the site after the terrorist attacks suffer from serious ailments that doctors say are linked to their exposure to harmful materials at Ground zero. The act expires at the end of the month, leaving many with financial burdens.
"You get ordered to go there, you get ordered to stay there, you get ordered to do a lot of crazy work, and then a couple years later, you get sick," Kenny Specht, a retired New York firefighter who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer after working at Ground Zero, told Reuters.
鈥淚鈥檓 embarrassed for our country, I鈥檓 embarrassed for New York, I鈥檓 embarrassed that you, after serving so selflessly and with such heroism, have to come down here and convince people to do what鈥檚 right for the illnesses and difficulties that you suffered because of your heroism and your selflessness,鈥� Stewart told fellow protestors at the rally.
Advocates pushing for a permanent extension of the bill are hopeful that the former 16-year host of 鈥淭he Daily Show鈥� will be just as influential this time around as he was in 2010.
"We pitched a solid eight innings and then Jon Stewart came in and closed in 2010," John Feal, founder of the Feal Good Foundation, an organization that advocates for injured 9/11 emergency personnel, told Reuters.
While the bill has more bipartisan support than before, proponents are concerned that House Speaker John Boehner, (R) of Ohio, who was opposed to the Zadroga Act in 2010, will hold up the bill this time around as well.聽
鈥淒uring the last five years, we鈥檝e documented [the cancer], we鈥檝e studied it, we can go back to our colleagues and say, 鈥楾his program works.鈥� 鈥� US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York and the bill's sponsor, told . 鈥淭his is proven to save lives and we must ensure that it is permanent.鈥澛�
This report includes material from Reuters.
