Bipartisan support boosts 9/11 health program funding prospects

WASHINGTON — The World Trade Center Health Program — facing a looming $3 billion budget shortfall over the next decade — would be fully funded under a proposed spending bill released by House appropriators on Tuesday.

The Homeland Security spending plan, one of four major budget bills making their way through Congress before a Jan. 30 deadline, would include an incremental bump in funding for the health program through 2040 to address any yearly funding shortfalls. This would account for a projected rise in 9/11 first responders and survivors who will need treatment for cancers and other diseases tied to their exposure to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack sites. The program currently provides health care to about 135,000 people.

The proposed extra funding was secured by a bipartisan coalition of New York lawmakers led by Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport), the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). 

"We’re not taking a victory lap yet, but everybody feels a lot better now than they did," in December 2024, when billionaire Elon Musk pressed House Republicans and incoming President Donald Trump to scrap a short-term spending bill that included money for the anticipated 9/11 program shortfall, Garbarino said in a phone interview.

The 9/11 funding is contained in a bicameral, bipartisan version of a full-year bill to fund operations for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that House and Senate leaders are set to vote on later this week.

There have been doubts that the overall Homeland spending bill could get enough bipartisan House support for passage because of unrelated issues tied to immigration enforcement. Some Democrats have said they won’t vote for the bill unless Trump’s immigration enforcement operations are reined in and there are funding cuts to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

But prospects of the bill’s passage improved on Tuesday when its bipartisan negotiators — including top House Appropriations Democrat Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) — released a draft that reduces ICE enforcement and removal operations by $115 million while keeping the overall budget for DHS flat. Additionally, it reduces the number of ICE detention beds by 5,500 and cuts Border Patrol funding by $1.8 billion.

DeLauro in a statement explained that blocking the current version of the bill could force Congress to approve a temporary extension of funding for ICE enforcement and removal operations at their current level — instead of reducing it by $115 million.

Advocates and 9/11 first responders cautiously celebrated the inclusion of the additional funding for the World Trade Center Health Program in the spending bill.

"While we will never rest until every 9/11 responder and survivor receives the care and monitoring that they need and deserve, the peace of mind brought by today’s announcement is good news for those that depend on the program," said Ben Chevat, executive director of 9/11 Health Watch, a group that advocates for the health needs of those impacted by the attacks.

 Michael Barasch, whose law firm Barasch & McGarry represents 9/11 survivors enrolled in the program, said in a phone interview he is hopeful the proposed funding increase passes given the bipartisan support.

"It's people outside the New York area finally recognizing, ‘Hey, we made a promise to never forget, here's how we fulfill that promise,’" Barasch said.