Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today released the following statement after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Never Forget the Heroes: James Zadroga, Ray Pfeifer, and Luis Alvarez Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act, bipartisan legislation she has sponsored to make the 9-11 Victim Compensation Fund permanent:
“I commend the House for passing the ‘Never Forget the Heroes: James Zadroga, Ray Pfeifer, and Luis Alvarez Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act’ and doing the right thing for our heroes. Our 9-11 first responders are back in Washington today with Jon Stewart for what should be the last time. The Senate Majority Leader gave his commitment to get this bill done in the next two weeks and we now have 72 bipartisan cosponsors – which means there are no excuses. It would be unconscionable for the Senate to ask 9-11 responders to spend any more of their precious time walking the halls of Congress and fighting to make the 9-11 Victim Compensation Fund permanent. This needs to get done now. We need to let these men and women get back to their lives and families. We need to show with our actions – not just our words – that we will never forget what these heroes did for our nation. We owe them nothing less.”