Trump White House Pivots (Again) on World Trade Center Program
A week after slashing the staff of the World Trade Center Health Program by 20 percent, President Donald Trump has reconsidered and decided to hire back the dozen-plus staff who were laid off.
This development came 48 hours after seven Republican members of Congress (all representing districts in the New York metropolitan area) wrote to the President on February 19, arguing, “this staff reduction will only make it more difficult for the program to supervise its contracts and to care for its members who are comprised of the brave men and women who ran towards danger and helped in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks.”
The letter added, “to fulfill our moral obligation to September 11 survivors and responders, we must ensure that the program not only has the necessary resources, but also is properly administered, so that program members receive the high-quality care that they need and deserve. We urge you, as a native New Yorker who lived in New York City as it recovered from the September 11 terrorist attacks, to reverse these actions by rehiring the terminated probationary staff, restoring the canceled FDNY research grant contract, and fencing off the WTC Health Program, which was authorized in statute as mandatory spending, from any further staff and funding reductions.” (The mention of the “FDNY research grant contract” refers to an ongoing study comparing among New York City Fire Department personnel – alongside those of three other urban fire departments – the incidence of diseases associated with exposure to toxic debris released by the collapse of the Twin Towers.)
Benjamin Chevat, executive director of 911 Health Watch, a nonprofit that seeks to ensure the Federal government’s continued, long-term commitment to the health and well-being of September 11 responders, survivors and their families, said, “we appreciate the swift action by President Trump, when he became aware of the impact that these cuts by [the Department of Government Efficiency] would have had on health care of injured and ill September 11 responders and survivors. We hope that we can also count on the President’s support in the effort to fix the long-term budget problems facing the program that will start in 2027. Moving forward, we ask President Trump to instruct his Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to ensure that the World Trade Center Health Program is protected from further cuts and or disruptions.”
The population affected by cuts to World Trade Center Health Program is considerable, with 132,091 people currently covered in all 50 states. In recent years, the number of people made sick (and eventually killed) by exposure to toxic debris from September 11 has surpassed the tally of people who died on that day, and the preponderance of newly diagnosed illness has shifted toward the survivor community (defined as those who lived, worked, or attended school, or child or adult day care facilities within the eligibility zone during the specified time period), rather than first responders (such as fire and police personnel).