Who We Are
After nearly a decade of Washington ignoring the thousands of injured and ill 9/11 responders and survivors suffering from the toxins at Ground Zero, Congress was finally shamed into passing the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act in 2010.
But that was not the end of the struggle.
That is why Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act Inc. was created by the unions and groups that worked to get Washington to finally respond to the health crisis facing so many and reopen the Victim Compensation Fund and create the World Trade Center Health Program. Our mission was to make sure the legislation would be renewed, extended, and fully funded.
Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act and a broad coalition of unions and advocates worked over the years to build overwhelming Congressional support for 9/11 responders and survivors and their families. In 2015, that work resulted in the Congress acting and making the World Trade Center Health Program open until 2090 and extending the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund for an additional five years.
In 2019, we again worked with a coalition of 9/11 responders, survivors, labor unions, advocates and dedicated public officials to develop overwhelming bipartisan support for fully funding the Compensation Program and authorizing it till 2090 as well by passing the Never Forget the Heroes: James Zadroga, Ray Pfeifer, and Luis Alvarez Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act.
In 2021, 9/11 responders and survivors faced potential service cutbacks due to an impending budget deficit caused by increasing costs and members facing the World Trade Center Health Program.
We could not let that happen.
Citizens again began the work to mobilize our supporters to deal with this issue.
First, in 2022 through the efforts of Senators Gillibrand and Schumer an additional billion dollars of funding was provided in the 2022 Omnibus spending bill.
And again, in July of 2023, Senators Gillibrand, Schumer were joined by Senator Mike Braun of (R-IN) in an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that provided an additional $444 million in funding for the program and corrected the problem that some Pentagon and Shanksville responders, including those that were active-duty Military could not join the Health Program.
While these efforts did postpone the date that service cuts would go into effect by several years, Congress still needed to provide additional funds to stop the cuts to services and ensure that the World Trade Center Health Program is fully funded and able to provide its care to injured and ill 9/11 responders and survivors.
To fix the projected funding shortfall, in July of 2024, Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Charles Schumer (D-NY), Mike Braun (R-IN), along with Members of Congress Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY), Dan Goldman (D-NY) and other members, introduced new bi-partisan legislation, the 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act of 2024 HR. 9101/S. 4724.
This legislation would have permanently addressed the projected funding shortfall and ensured that the World Trade Center Health Program would be fully funded going forward.
This effort was on the verge of succeeding in December, 2024 when the end of the year Omnibus Legislation for the Continuing Resolution, HR. 10445, contained a provision to deal with the impending budget deficit in the program.
That agreed on bill failed to be passed; instead a version of the continuing resolutions was passed without this provision and many other agreed to provisions leaving the World Trade Center Health Program funding issue still unresolved at the end of 2024.
And now again we will have to work with our supporters in Congress to ensure the funding for the World Trade Center Health Program.
Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act Inc. is a 501(c)4.
Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act Inc. Board of Directors
President
Thomas Hart, President/Business Agent/Health and Safety Officer, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 94
Treasurer
Peg Seminario
Secretary
Micki Siegel de Hernández, Health and Safety Director for the Communications Workers of America (CWA), District 1
Rupa Bhattacharyya, Special Litigation Counsel, Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, Georgetown University Law Center
Joseph Canovas, Special Counsel, NYS AFL CIO
Jessica García, Retail, Assistant to the President, Wholesale and Department Store Union International
Frank Marchese, Jr., Executive Director New York State Laborers Health & Safety Trust Fund
Mike McGuire, Laborers’ International Union of North America
Sean Michael, Battalion Chief in the FDNY and a Chiefs Representative in the Uniformed Fire Officers Association (UFOA)
James Slevin, Vice President, Uniformed Firefighters Association, IAFF Local 94, AFL-CIO
Staff
Ben Chevat, Executive Director
Suzy Ballantyne, Deputy Executive Director
Mailing Address
Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act, Inc.
c/o NYS AFL-CIO
100 South Swan Street
Albany, NY 12210
Phone: (646) 787-6184