Jon Stewart Tore into Congress Over 9/11 First Responders’ Fund
Former Daily Show host Jon Stewart was back in front of Congress this week to continue a fight he's clearly grown sick of. He appeared before a House Judiciary subcommittee on Tuesday to testify on behalf of first responders for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
"I can’t help but think what an incredible metaphor this room is for the entire process that getting health care and benefits for 9/11 first responders has come to," Stewart said, acknowledging that only eight members of Congress were present. "Behind me, a filled room of 9/11 first responders and in front of me, a nearly empty Congress." He added, "Sick and dying, they brought themselves down here to speak—to no one. Shameful. It is an embarrassment to the country, and it is a stain on this institution."
Steve Cohen, a Democratic representative from Tennessee, explained that the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties was smaller than the Judiciary Committee as a whole. "All these empty chairs, that's because it's for the full committee," he told Stewart. "It's not because of disrespect or lack of attention to you."
But optics were only part of the problem. Congress passed the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act in 2010, nearly a decade after the attacks. When it was renewed in 2015, it was set to last for the following 90 years, but one portion of it, the Victim Compensation Fund, which covers the costs of illnesses and deaths of first responders exposed to toxins at Ground Zero, was only renewed for another five years. Stewart appeared before Congress at the time to push for the fund's extension, and on Tuesday he testified to make it permanent. The fund is rapidly dwindling as the number of claims spikes, and it appears likely to run out of money even before its December 2020 expiration date. As of February, the fund had paid out about $5 billion of its $7.3 billion budget—that's settled 21,000 claims, but there are still 19,000 more. So the remaining 20 percent of the fund will be divided up between 50 percent of the claimants.
The Never Forget the Heroes Act would effectively make the fund permanent, though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hasn't committed to bringing it to the floor for a vote.
Stewart became emotional as he reprimanded the few representatives present, saying it was unconscionable that first responders had to keep coming back to ask for health care "like children trick-or-treating." Stewart has been championing health-care relief for first responders since his time on The Daily Show, and the fact that the fight is still going on has him incensed. "I'm sorry if I sound angry and undiplomatic," he said. "But I'm angry, and you should be, too, and they're all angry as well and they have every justification to be that way."
Originally Appeared on GQ
