Trump officials promised to fill WTC Health vacancies, but posted only four jobs

WASHINGTON — Three months ago, Trump administration officials pledged to fill three dozen job vacancies at the World Trade Center Health Program after complaints of service delays for the past year.

So far, only four positions have been posted on the federal government’s job portal.

 New York lawmakers from both parties, and 9/11 victim advocates, are raising concerns about the pace in filling vacancies for the program, which provides healthcare to more than 140,000  first responders, recovery workers and civilians diagnosed with cancers and other diseases tied to their exposure to toxic dust from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The program has been operating with 83 employees, down from the 93 at the start of President Donald Trump’s second term and fewer than the 120 positions authorized for the program. The staffing shortage was propelled by widespread layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the program, and a federal worker buyout program that were both part of Trump’s push to downsize the federal government.

A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson told Newsday that candidates for the four positions are currently being reviewed. But with the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approaching, some lawmakers and advocates question whether the administration will fill the majority of the 37 openings by then.

"If Washington bureaucrats moved with even a fraction of the urgency our 9/11 First Responders showed when they rushed into the Twin Towers, every one of these positions would already be filled," Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) said in a statement to Newsday.

Service delays

LaLota, in March, issued a letter cosigned by Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport) and other New York House Republicans calling on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to address the staffing shortages after 9/11 advocates and public safety unions told lawmakers the program has been grappling with service delays while also seeing an uptick in people seeking enrollment. HHS officials held a closed-door briefing with those lawmakers on March 26 in which they said they planned on filling the positions.

New York’s two Democratic senators — Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer — also received written assurances in April from the administration that more hiring would happen, after they wrote to Kennedy raising concerns about the staffing levels.

So far, the only positions that have been listed on the federal government’s USAJobs.gov portal have been for an associate director, a deputy chief of healthcare benefits, an information technology specialist and a health scientist. Those openings, first posted in May, were open for seven days and are now closed, with applicants being "assessed," according to HHS.

'Snail's pace'

Schumer, the Senate minority leader, said in a statement to Newsday that the administration is "moving at a snail's pace that would take years" to fill the vacancies.

"Our sick 9/11 workers need top quality health care today, not years from now," Schumer said. "Secretary Kennedy and HHS need to stop delaying and dawdling and accelerate hiring immediately."

Gillibrand, in a statement, told Newsday, "HHS must do its duty and fill these critical staff vacancies."

"The 9/11 survivors and responders who ran toward danger in our nation's darkest hour deserve nothing less than the full care and monitoring this program was designed to provide," Gillibrand said.

Asked about the time frame for filling all of the vacancies, HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard did not provide a specific timeline. "The WTC Health Program is actively working with the HHS Office of Human Resources to fill vacancies and reach full operational capacity," Hilliard said. "The Trump Administration remains committed to providing quality health care to the 9/11 responders and survivors we serve."

Federal cuts

Trump’s top budget official — Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought — was recently pressed by LaLota at a congressional hearing about whether the office had any measures in place before cuts were launched last year to ensure the 9/11 program’s mission would not be impacted. Vought has been one of the leaders of the administration’s efforts to reduce the size and scope of the federal workforce.

"What should OMB’s early warning indications have been that those staffing levels were dropping to dangerously low levels that would impede their ability to delivering on this important mission?" LaLota asked Vought at the June 30 House Appropriations Committee hearing.

Vought replied: "If we had known about it, we would make sure that they have every adequate resource that they need to perform that function."

Asked about the exchange, LaLota told Newsday: "I raised this directly with Director Vought because four job postings out of 37 vacancies is simply not good enough. I appreciated his commitment to personally look into it, and now I expect the Administration to move with urgency. Every vacancy should be filled as quickly as possible so no responder or survivor experiences a delay in receiving the care they have earned."

By Laura Figueroa Hernandez

laura.figueroa@newsday.com@Laura_Figueroa

Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.