Zadroga bill advocates relieved it passed

Hailed by its political sponsors as "the sweetest of victories" and "a great day for America," passage of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act last week was doubtful to the last.

It took years of lobbying and many dozens of trips to the capital by a cadre of passionately committed men and women - many of them first responders from Long Island and the region, or relatives of those who became ill after breathing toxins as they worked at the World Trade Center site in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

And it came only after a last-minute agreement with Senate Republicans to cut the total level of funding by about $2 billion, to $4.3 billion. The bill provides health care and compensation for 9/11 workers for five years.

"It's been a long time coming," said Glen Klein, 52, of Centereach, a disabled former police officer and a member of the FealGood Foundation, founded in 2005 by a former World Trade Center site demolition supervisor, John Feal, to push for the bill.

"Even though the bill was butchered up a little bit, it's better to come back with something for the responders rather than nothing," Klein said.

While supporters praised the votes Wednesday in the Senate and House, they said the long struggle to pass the bill had been disheartening, even disillusioning. The bill awaits President Barack Obama's signature.

"It was playing politics with human lives," said Ann Marie Baumann, 45, of Lindenhurst, FealGood's vice president. Her husband, Christopher, 47, was a police officer who was blinded for almost a year after his eyes became damaged by debris on 9/11.

The lawmakers, she said, "don't get the phone calls from people who don't have food on their tables or the calls at 3 a.m. from the family of a man who wants to kill himself because he can't work, he can't breathe, he can't do anything with his kids."

"It made you disappointed to be an American," said Klein, who has respiratory and gastrointestinal damage.

But on the bus home Wednesday after the legislation was finally passed, "there was not a complaint" Baumann said. "I guess we kind of knew we weren't going to get exactly what we asked for so it wasn't shocking."

Still, a number of those who supported the bills were self-described Republicans dismayed by the actions of some in their party. "I am a registered Republican, or maybe I should say I was," Baumann said.

But former Nassau Police Officer John Marschhauser, 52, of Manorville, struggling with damaged lungs, said, "I understand there has to be some scrutiny when they craft legislation to be careful of the taxpayers' money."

The main goal of swift access to medications and treatment was achieved, he said. "It's a relief to know that my family is not going to be saddled with thousands and thousands of medical bills in case things don't work out."