Letter to The Honorable Mike Enzi, Chairman, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

Letter to The Honorable Mike Enzi, Chairman, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

September 20, 2006

The Honorable Mike Enzi
Chairman
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
428 Dirksen
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Chairman Enzi:

Just a few days ago we marked the fifth anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. We have continued along with the New York delegation to attempt to address the ongoing needs since the day of those attacks. Unfortunately, since the attacks, many police officers, firefighters, paramedics, first responders, building and construction trades workers, residents and others have experienced significant health problems due to their exposure to toxins at Ground Zero.

During the Senate's recent consideration of H.R. 4954, The SAFE Port Act, Senator Clinton offered an amendment to authorize $1.9 billion in grants to be available until 2011. The purpose of these grants, which would be administered through the Department of Health and Human Services, is to make available funding for medical and mental health treatment and monitoring to those individuals suffering from their exposure to toxins in the days, weeks, and months following the attacks.

On September 6, 2006, Mt. Sinai Hospital released a report entitled The WTC Disaster & the Health of Workers: 5-Year Assessment in which medical officials concluded that 69% of 9,442 responders examined between July 2002 and April 2004 reported new or worsened respiratory symptoms while performing World Trade Center (WTC) related work. Additionally, the report indicates that among those who had been asymptomatic before September 11, 2001, 61% had developed respiratory symptoms while performing WTC work.

We have talked with many individuals who continue to suffer since that horrific day. We must take action to help those who answered our nation's call to service during those dark times. Therefore, we would like to request that the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee set a time for a hearing on this pressing issue and to mark-up legislation authorizing grants for ongoing medical and mental health monitoring and treatment. Now that we have additional scientific evidence linking individuals' health with their exposure to dust and toxins in New York, we believe that we must act to provide this critical assistance so that more people do not suffer and potentially die as a result of these illnesses.

Sincerely yours,

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Edward M. Kennedy

http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=263414&&