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Whatever your views on how.why.who 911 - those injured deserve being treated well!
#1
Money for the wars I believe the 'event' was invented to kindle - nothing much for the victims.....

House rejects bill to aid sick 9/11 responders

9/11 first responders congress democrats John Feal Mayor Michael Bloomberg New York republicans World Trade Center

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100730/ap_o...cks_health
By ANDREW MIGA and DAVID B. CARUSO, Associated Press Writers Andrew Miga And David B. Caruso, Associated Press Writers

WASHINGTON – A bill that would have provided up to $7.4 billion in aid to people sickened by World Trade Center dust fell short in the House on Thursday, raising the possibility that the bulk of compensation for the ill will come from a legal settlement hammered out in the federal courts.

The bill would have provided free health care and compensation payments to 9/11 rescue and recovery workers who fell ill after working in the trade center ruins.

It failed to win the needed two-thirds majority, 255-159. The vote was largely along party lines, with 12 Republicans joining Democrats supporting the measure.

For weeks, a judge and teams of lawyers have been urging 10,000 former ground zero workers to sign on to a court-supervised settlement that would split $713 million among people who developed respiratory problems and other illnesses after inhaling trade center ash.

The court deal shares some similarities with the aid program that the federal legislation would have created, but it involves far less money. Only the most seriously ill of the thousands of police officers, firefighters and construction workers suing New York City over their exposure to the dust would be eligible for a hefty payout.

But supporters of the deal have been saying the court settlement is the only realistic option for the sick, because Congress will never act.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you can wait and wait and wait for that legislation ... it's not passing," Kenneth Feinberg, the former special master of the federal 9/11 victim compensation fund, told an audience of ground zero responders Monday in a meeting on Staten Island.

Democratic leaders opted to consider the House bill under a procedure that requires a two-thirds vote for approval rather than a simple majority. Such a move blocked potential GOP amendments to the measure.

A key backer of the bill, U.S. Rep. Peter King, a Long Island Republican, accused Democrats of staging a "charade."

King said Democrats were "petrified" about casting votes as the fall elections near on controversial amendments, possibly including one that could ban the bill from covering illegal immigrants who were sickened by trade center dust.

If Democrats brought it to the floor as a regular bill, King said, it would have passed with majority support.

GOP critics branded the bill as yet another big-government "massive new entitlement program" that would have increased taxes and possibly kill jobs.

To pay the bill's estimated $7.4 billion cost over 10 years, the legislation would have prevented foreign multinational corporations incorporated in tax haven countries from avoiding tax on income earned in the U.S.

Bill supporters said that would close a tax loophole. Republicans branded it a corporate tax increase.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the vote an "outrage." He said it was clearly a tactic designed to stall the bill.

"This is a way to avoid having to make a tough decision," Bloomberg said, adding that the nation owes more to "the people who worked down at 9/11 whose health has fallen apart because they did what America wanted them to do."

John Feal, a ground zero demolition worker who has lobbied extensively for the legislation, expressed disgust.

"They pulled the rug out from beneath our feet," Feal said. "Whatever member of Congress vote against this bill, whether Republican or Democrat, should go to jail for manslaughter."

The bill would have provided up to $3.2 billion to cover the medical treatment of people sickened by trade center dust and an additional $4.2 billion for a new fund that would have compensated them for their suffering and lost wages.

The potential promise of a substantial payout from the federal government had caused some ground zero workers to balk at participating in the proposed legal settlement, which would resolve as many as 10,000 lawsuits against the city.

Initially, the bill would have prohibited people from participating in the new federal compensation program if they had already been compensated for their injuries through a lawsuit, but a change was made in recent days eliminating that restriction.

Nevertheless, with the House rejecting the bill and no vote scheduled on a similar Senate version, it appears almost guaranteed that there will be no new federal law by Sept. 8, the date by which ground zero workers involved in the lawsuits must decide whether to accept the settlement offer.

Under the terms of the deal, 95 percent of those workers must say yes for the court settlement to take effect.

The compensation system set up by the court would make payments ranging from $3,250 for people who aren't sick but worry they could fall ill in the future to as much as $1.5 million to the families of people who have died. Nonsmokers disabled by severe asthma might get between $800,000 and $1 million.

About 25 percent of the money would go to pay legal fees. Contested claims would be heard by Feinberg, who would act as an appeals officer.

Researchers have found that thousands of New Yorkers exposed to trade center dust are now suffering from breathing difficulties similar to asthma. Many have also complained of heartburn or acid reflux, and studies have shown that firefighters who worked on the debris pile suffer from elevated levels of sarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease.

Many of the workers also fear that the dust is giving people cancer, although scientific studies have failed to find evidence of such a link.

The exact number of sick is unclear. Nearly 15,900 people received treatment last year through medical programs set up to treat Sept. 11-related illnesses, but doctors say many of those people suffered from conditions that are common in the general public.

The House bill is named for James Zadroga, a police detective who died at age 34. His supporters say he died from respiratory disease contracted at ground zero, but New York City's medical examiner said Zadroga's lung condition was caused by prescription drug abuse.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
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#2
It's sickening. My country Australia sent some of its fire fighters for the run across America in support of their American counterparts. A great cause, to be sure, but again the everyman hero is sampled down by the government. Wasn't even a story here about the bill being shot down. And our ex-Prime minister, whom Bush called the Man of Steel, who was in the US when 9/11 went down, stood shaking hands like a grinning idiot.
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#3
The fire fighters should be in Russia helping put out the fires there.
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx

"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.

“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
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#4
I have the greatest respect for the first responders who entered the buildings.

However we have to separate them from those worked on the debris pile. Then ask a few questions.

What were the terms for medical and disability before the attack? Why should we change them after the fact? We can’t just give away money based on sympathy.

Then look at it from an individual level. I know that the EPA did air quality samples that reported things were safe. But come on, if it’s making you cough then it’s not safe to breathe. It’s your life at stake if you don’t wear a respirator.

Then look at some of the things in your own posting.


Quote:[size=12]The compensation system set up by the court would make payments ranging from $3,250 for people who aren't sick but worry they could fall ill in the future
[/SIZE]


The thought of paying people who aren’t sick with tax payers money is making me sick. Hey doesn’t that make me qualified for a few grand?


Quote:[size=12]About 25 percent of the money would go to pay legal fees.
[/SIZE]


There always seems to be the vultures circling. If this is a national tragedy shouldn’t they be limited to a tragic percentage, maybe 10%?


Quote:[size=12]Researchers have found that thousands of New Yorkers exposed to trade center dust are now suffering from breathing difficulties similar to asthma.
[/SIZE]


What breathing problems in New York city? I never would have guessed that.


Quote:[size=12]Many have also complained of heartburn or acid reflux,
[/SIZE]


Half the country is on Prilosec.


Quote:[size=12]Nearly 15,900 people received treatment last year through medical programs set up to treat Sept. 11-related illnesses, but doctors say many of those people suffered from conditions that are common in the general public.

[/SIZE]



Common to the general public. Nuff said.

I’m sorry you just can’t keep handing out China’s money to everyone with a story.
The banks with their free federal money they loan to us with interest.
The auto industry with their overblown retirement plans.
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#5
a man with an agenda - the official version of 911 is perfectly true; was perfectly investigated; and the officials were perfectly upfront [nothing covered-up]. Watch this video Dust to Dust and read the truth about the health effects...... The EPA lied and knew they lied.....the whole damn system lied, and lies still about EVERY ASPECT of 9-11 (before-during-after!) Party

Dust to Dust: The Health Effects of 9/11, EPA lied; recovery workers died! Persons all over Manhattan are dying in disproportionate numbers.....if you want to go head to head on this, do you homework well....as the health effects.....happen to be in the field of my graduate training....[Environmental Toxicology].
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
Reply
#6
Quote:[size=12]a man with an agenda - the official version of 911 is perfectly true;
[/SIZE]


No agenda. I just don’t believe in massive conspiracies. There are just too many things and people to go wrong. The longer it goes on the more likely it is to be exposed.

In fact I side with you in a couple of points here.
The EPA was wrong or lied about the air quality. It was not safe and I knew it wasn’t back when they announced it was. Common sense should tell you it wasn’t. I doubt you can find a lung expert that would say that visible levels of particulate matter are safe. So I totally agree with you on the air quality.

My problem is the payments or should I say the extra payments above what the city workers contracts provided. Can you really claim ignorance of the consequences when you are coughing all day while working on the pile? It’s this attitude of just handing out money like it’s free.
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#7
Sam Kent Wrote:
Quote:[size=12]a man with an agenda - the official version of 911 is perfectly true;
[/SIZE]


No agenda. I just don’t believe in massive conspiracies. There are just too many things and people to go wrong. The longer it goes on the more likely it is to be exposed.

In fact I side with you in a couple of points here.
The EPA was wrong or lied about the air quality. It was not safe and I knew it wasn’t back when they announced it was. Common sense should tell you it wasn’t. I doubt you can find a lung expert that would say that visible levels of particulate matter are safe. So I totally agree with you on the air quality.

My problem is the payments or should I say the extra payments above what the city workers contracts provided. Can you really claim ignorance of the consequences when you are coughing all day while working on the pile? It’s this attitude of just handing out money like it’s free.
Clearly you do believe in massive conspiracies though Sam. The 'official' conspiracy story of 911. I think you are in the wrong forum Sam.
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx

"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.

“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
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#8
Magda Hassan Wrote:...I think you are in the wrong forum Sam.

Truer words were never spoken.

Surely there is a coincidence theorist forum that would welcome you with open arms Sam.
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