{"id":104021,"date":"2019-07-05T13:06:31","date_gmt":"2019-07-05T17:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=104021"},"modified":"2019-07-05T11:17:31","modified_gmt":"2019-07-05T15:17:31","slug":"brindisi-announces-plan-to-bring-to-floor-and-pass-9-11-victims-compensation-fund-legislation-stalled-while-sick-responders-and-families-wait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=104021","title":{"rendered":"Brindisi announces plan to bring to floor and pass 9\/11 victims compensation fund legislation, stalled while sick responders and families wait"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Rep. Anthony Brindisi<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Standing with local firefighters and community leaders,\nCongressman Anthony Brindisi (NY-22) today called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi\nand Senate Leader Mitch McConnell to make good on their promise to support 9\/11\nfirst responders and their families by allowing a vote on legislation to\npermanently reauthorize the 9\/11 Victims Compensation Fund. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Never Forget the Heroes: Permanent Authorization of the\nSeptember 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act (H.R. 1327), which permanently\nextends the expiring 9\/11 Victim Compensation Fund, has 332 cosponsors in the\nHouse, well over the 218 votes needed to pass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCongress needs to act,\u201d Brindisi said. \u201cOn Sept. 11, many\ncourageous New York first-responders ran towards danger. They didn\u2019t ask\nquestions, they didn\u2019t hesitate, they bravely charged into the wreckage to\nhelp. We need to honor them not just with our words but with our actions.\nPoliticians in Washington like to talk a lot about honoring our heroes, but\ntalk is cheap. Permanently reauthorizing the 9\/11 Victims Compensation Fund is\nthe right thing to do for these brave men and women.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is nothing more important than making sure that the\nbrave men and women who responded selflessly to the 9\/11 attacks and their\nfamilies who lost loved ones running into danger continue to be compensated by\nreauthorizing the 9\/11 Victim Compensation Fund,\u201d said Rome Mayor Jacqueline M.\nIzzo. \u201cThis is truly a bipartisan issue, and I am proud to stand with\nCongressman Brindisi to implore Speaker Pelosi to move the 9\/11 Victim\nCompensation Fund bill to the floor for a vote in the House of Representatives.\nMajority Leader McConnell has already expressed his willingness to bring this\nbill for a Senate vote in August. It is long past time to permanently\nreauthorize the VCF, and put an end to the waiting game for those first\nresponders who were killed or injured on 9\/11 and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m so glad to see our congressman, Anthony Brindisi,\nsupport a bill that is so important to us\u2014our first responders the men and\nwomen who in the line of duty are now paying with their health for the\nsacrifice they made that day at the time our country was under attack,\u201d said\nRome Fire Chief Ron Brement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs the victims of 911\u2019s aftermath are losing the fight for\ntheir lives, for coming together and fighting for one another,\u201d said New York\nState Professional Fire Fighters Association District Two Vice President Thomas\nE. Carcone. \u201cIt is unthinkable, that there would even be discussion or thought\nthat these very same people would ever have to worry about funding for their\nmedical costs and survival running dry. The 911 Victim\u2019s Fund needs to be voted\non, passed, and placed in our rear view once and for all. We have confidence in\nCongressman Brindisi as a co-sponsor and that he will do whatever it takes to\nget the rest of Congress on board.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The VCF was created to provide compensation for those who\nsuffered physical harm or were killed as a result of the 9\/11 terror attack or\nthe debris removal efforts that took place after the crashes. The original VCF\nran from 2001-2004. In 2011, Congress passed the James Zadroga 9\/11 Health and\nCompensation Act of 2010 to allow the VCF to operate for a period of five years,\nending in October 2016. Congress passed a reauthorization of that bill in 2015,\nwhich included a five-year reauthorization of the VCF, allowing individuals to\nsubmit their claims until December 18, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To date, the VCF has received 48,548 eligibility claims,\nwith 23,390 claimants eligible for compensation. In February, the VCF reported\n\u201cinsufficient funds\u201d and announced cuts of 50% for pending claims and 70% for\nnew claims. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month, the legislation unanimously passed the\nHouse Judiciary Committee. The bill awaits action on the House floor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Standing with local firefighters and community leaders, Congressman Anthony Brindisi (NY-22) today called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Leader Mitch McConnell to make good on their promise to support 9\/11 first responders and their families by allowing a vote on legislation to permanently reauthorize the 9\/11 Victims Compensation Fund. The Never Forget the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23810,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wellbeing","category-top-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-r3L","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Rep-Anthony-Brindisi-Congress.jpg?fit=220%2C220&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=104021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/102245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=104021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=104021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=104021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}