Statement on Gillibrand/Schumer Letter to Secretary Kennedy Regarding the World Trade Center Health Program

Given Secretary Kennedy’s record for the first six months of the administration, and with the 24^th anniversary of 9/11 just a few weeks away, Senators Gillibrand and Schumer are calling attention to continuing issues with the World Trade Center Health Program that Secretary Kennedy must address.

As the Senators spell out, Secretary Kennedy needs to lift his “temporary” communications pause, preventing the program from communicating with the public; he needs to lift the hiring freeze for the program staff, so that the program can be fully staffed to serve its members; he needs to make sure that the program has sufficient support to supervise contracts for program services; he needs to restart the program’s research grants process, which should have started in March; he needs to continue the program petition process for reviewing whether conditions need to be added; and finally, he needs to explain his plans for moving the program to the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) so that we know that the program will be able to get the support it needs to do its job.

Secretary Kennedy and his staff at HHS need to address these issues now.

Thank you, Senators Gillibrand and Schumer, for continuing to work on behalf of 9/11 responders and survivors.

You can see Senator Gillibrand and Schumer’s letter here.

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