Sunday, August 1st 2010
Xanthos/News
Sick 9/11 responders protested lawmakers who failed to pass the Zadroga health care bill.
Sickened 9/11 responders vented their fury Sunday against lawmakers who failed to pass the Zadroga health care bill - and vowed to stage a massive protest rally in Washington when Congress returns from a six-week vacation.
"We will not go away," said now-retired NYPD squad commander Gary White at a Ground Zero gathering of dozens of rescue and recovery workers and their families.
"We will stand here and fight for this bill," said White, who has severe respiratory ailments and suffered two strokes after working at the World Trade Center site and the Staten Island landfill, where victims' remains were sifted from the rubble.
The House of Representatives failed Thursday night to pass the $7.4 billion measure to cover health care costs for workers sickened at the site of the terror attacks and compensate victims. Democrats could have passed it in a simple majority vote, but opted for a procedure requiring a two-thirds majority so no amendments could be attached.
"Human life has taken a back seat," said John Feal, a demolition supervisor whose left foot had to be partially amputated after a steel beam fell on him during cleanup work.
Feal called out warring Reps. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens-Brooklyn) and Pete King (R-L.I.), whose congressional floor shout-fest about Thursday's vote became a TV and Internet sensation in recent days.
"You're both right and both wrong," Feal said. "I hope you can come together for the heroes who risked their life without prejudice."
The bill was named after NYPD Detective James Zadroga, who died in 2006 from respiratory disease contracted at Ground Zero.
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