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Malliotakis, Colleagues Make Bipartisan Push to Fund 9/11 Healthcare Deficit

July 12, 2022

(WASHINGTON, DC) - Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11) joined a bipartisan push to address a funding shortfall in the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP) withH.R.4965, the 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act. H.R.4965, which Malliotakis is an original cosponsor of, is bipartisan legislation that would ensure the program has adequate funding now and in the future. 

The legislation was referred to the House Energy & Commerce Committee last year and the legislators are making a big push to see it passed following news that the WTCHP faces a $3 billion deficit and will not be able to accept more enrollees as soon as 2024 if it’s not fully funded. Additionally, Malliotakis joined the entire New York Republican Congressional Delegation and other original cosponsors of the bill in sending a letter to Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Chair of the House Energy & Commerce Committee to which the bill was referred urging him to consider the legislation.

"While Congress extended the program to 2090, the precipitous rise in medical costs and in cancer rates over the last three years has led the program to project a deficit in funding as soon as 2025," the members wrote. "Furthermore, it is now being reported that, should Congress fail to act, the program will have to ratchet down spending and bar any new sick responders or survivors by October 2024. Let us be clear, if Congress does not quickly address this impending crisis, then the men and women who put their lives on the line and who survived the 9/11 terrorist attacks will lose health coverage to treat the physical and mental illnesses that they sustained from responding to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Thankfully, Congress has a solution to this problem in the 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act."

Today, the WTCHP provides medical treatment and monitoring for over 117,000 first responders and survivors from the World Trade Center and lower Manhattan, the Pentagon, and the Shanksville, PA crash site, spanning every state and all but one congressional district.

The members added: "9/11 first responders and survivors deserve to have certainty about their continued access to care for 9/11-related health conditions. Given the recent developments surrounding the WTCHP, we urge you to prioritize the heroes who put their lives in danger on that fateful day by working in a bipartisan manner to find a pay-for and bring forth H.R. 4965 for a full committee mark-up."

The full text of the letter can be found HERE.