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GOP to 9/11 Responders: Tough Luck.
Author: Raine    Date: 07/29/2010 13:34:05

Sometimes I really just don't understand how the GOP mind works. Today it's recommending that its members vote against assisting 9/11 victims, particularly the emergency responders to the disaster on that day.

Politico is reporting this morning:
House Republican leadership is advising its members to vote against a bipartisan bill that would, among other things, bolster medical support to Sept. 11 victims.

The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2009, sponsored by New York City Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D), provides medical monitoring to those exposed to toxins at Ground Zero, bolsters treatment at specialized centers for those afflicted by toxins on 9/11 and reopens a compensation fund to provide economic loss to New Yorkers.

And it’s all paid for by closing a tax loophole on foreign companies with U.S. subsidiaries, Democrats say.
Republicans are claiming that this will increase taxes, without clarifying that this actually closes a tax loophole to foreign companies. They want people to believe that it will be THEIR taxes that are increasing. Once again they use the average taxpayer as a shield to protect corporate interests and in this case, 9/11 victims are -- well, victims again. Let me reiterate -- this is PAYED for by closing a tax loophole to foreign companies that get subsidies. One would think that is a good thing.

One could argue the need and validity of re-opening this fund, but I think it is truly disingenuous to deny assistance of medical treatment to those that were exposed to toxins at the World Trade center. I'm not even going to bother discussing the hypocrisy that we have already spent over a trillion dollars on 2 war fronts as a result of 9/11. The issue here is that many people have fallen ill in the years after the towers came down, and those illness have been link to that fateful day. According to a report in the International Business Times yesterday:
As many as 20,000 others, according to government figures, have suffered since the event, either from exposure to the toxic dust of pulverized buildings and combusted chemicals, or injuries, or post-traumatic stress, or all three. [snip]

"The upcoming Senate hearing on the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act is a critical step in the long journey to achieve justice for the responders and survivors of 9/11," Nadler said in a release. "The federal government is long overdue in providing health care and compensation to the many heroes, workers, community members and others who have become sick because of their exposure to toxic Ground Zero dust."

A former compensation fund for victims ran out in 2003. Supporters of the Zadroga bill say that many illnesses only came to the fore after the former fund closed, and that many people were only partially compensated by the that fund.
We were asked in the months and years after 9/11 to never forget.

We were asked to raise our flags and be patriotic. We were asked to love our country and remember the victims. The GOP needs to be reminded of that, and do the same for the ongoing tragedy that is 9/11. People are still suffering from lingering effects and they deserve the same dignity as those who were killed that day. They should not be punished because they had the good fortune to survive.

We should not be putting foreign corporations ahead of our own people. That isn't supposed to be what we do in America -- especially to the survivors of the World Trade Center disaster.

&
Raine


 

34 comments (Latest Comment: 07/30/2010 03:47:33 by Al from WV)
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