Thursday, September 17, 2015

Update: Jon Stewart Pushes McConnell to Commit to 9/11 Survivor Bill

Jon Stewart in Washington D.C.
on  Wednesday
On Tuesday I wrote that funding for the Zadroga 9/11 Survivor Bill was about to expire.  Sponsors to renew the bill are overwhelmingly Democrat and Republicans were displaying a definite disinterest in a funding renewal.  

Update:
On Wednesday, Jon Stewart lent his celebrity to the cause.

(Any underlines are mine.)

"Former Daily Show host Jon Stewart joined several dozen 9/11 first responders on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning to push Congress to pass a permanent extension of a bill to compensate those who became sick after working at Ground Zero after the Sept. 11 terror attacks...

'I'm embarrassed for our country, for New York, that you after serving so selflessly have to come down here and convince people to do what's right,' Stewart said looking at the crowd filled with firefighters and police officers who are suffering from illnesses caused from helping at Ground Zero after the attacks 14 years ago...

...It looks like Stewart...may have given the bill another boost today...

...Asked (later) Wednesday whether the program should be extended and whether that could be part of a continuing resolution, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said: 'I'm going to be meeting with first responders later today myself, and we do plan to extend the program and the committees of jurisdiction in the House and the Senate are actually working on the details now.'...

...This is, for the record, the first time McConnell has publicly committed to action on the Zadroga 9/ll bill.

(Mr. McConnell) voted against the legislation when it came up five years ago."

eye'm thynkin':  Let's hope "the committees...working on the details" work faster than those working on the GOP alternative to "Obamacare."

And, what does it say about the Republican attitude when they have to be publicly shamed into doing the right thing?

Read more at MSNBC

2 comments:

  1. That's Jon - going on to do some admirable, inspirational, useful things after leaving the job that he was known for doing. If only we could say that about most legislators. Can't wait to see how his animal rescue farm prospers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The elected GOP seems to not, let me repeat that, "The elected GOP seems to NOT ..." want health care in any form. SO much so that they (as a whole) were eager to kick those heroes under the bus.
    This country hasn't always been like this. Hell, even Reagan was pro American, meaning he didn't dislike Americans so much he was willing to let them die on the vine.
    My words belie my anger. The behavior of today's GOP reminds me of the line from the Watergate investigation, "follow the money". Wonder where that trail leads.

    ReplyDelete