James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. WEINER. I thank the chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I would say to my colleagues who are talking about the pay-for and the tax and the fine print that this is a relatively simple matter. This is a noncontroversial bill. If you believe that we owe a debt to the people who have served our country, this is your moment to repay it.

You know, you talk as if you're giving them some kind of a benefit. What benefit has occurred for the people who went down on September 11, who helped pull their friends and neighbors out of the rubble and who now bounce their grandkids on their knees with a stew of toxic dust in their lungs? What benefit has occurred for them?

You are repaying a debt on this day, a debt to these people who deserve it--and not just on September 11 when we all came together and said that we were never going to forget that day. We formed a fund like this one and said, You know what? If you died that day, you died a hero. Well, my colleagues, there are people who are dying at this moment. Are they any less the heroes? Are they less deserving?

Now, there was one word I did hear used which was appropriate--that we are creating an entitlement. That's right. These people are entitled. They are entitled to our care. They are entitled to our indebtedness. They are entitled to what we are doing in this bill. The difference with this entitlement and others is that there are no more people. In fact, there are fewer and fewer every single day because they are dying. They are dying because they were heroes on behalf of this country.

This is the moment for an up-or-down vote. If you put your card in and press the ``no'' button, you are against health care for 9/11 workers. If you push the green button, you are finally doing 9 years later what has been long overdue. That is the plain and simple truth.

Don't be the party of ``no'' today.

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