{"id":223383,"date":"2019-07-18T01:35:36","date_gmt":"2019-07-18T05:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=223383"},"modified":"2019-07-18T01:35:36","modified_gmt":"2019-07-18T05:35:36","slug":"gop-sen-rand-paul-slows-bill-to-boost-9-11-victims-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/07\/18\/gop-sen-rand-paul-slows-bill-to-boost-9-11-victims-fund\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP Sen. Rand Paul slows bill to boost 9 11 victims fund"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Paul objected to a request by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., to approve the bill by unanimous consent. (File photo<\/a>: Rand Paul\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Republican Sen. Rand Paul on Wednesday blocked fast-track approval of a bipartisan bill that would ensure a victims’ compensation fund related to the Sept. 11 attacks never runs out of money.<\/p>\n

Paul objected to a request by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., to approve the bill by unanimous consent.<\/p>\n

Paul, R-Ky., questioned the bill’s 70-year time frame and said any new spending should be offset by corresponding cuts. The government already faces a $22 trillion debt, a figure that grows every year, Paul said.<\/p>\n

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the 9-11 bill would result in about $10.2 billion in additional compensation payments over 10 years, including more than $4 billion for claims already filed.<\/p>\n

Gillibrand said 9-11 first responders and their families have had \u201cenough of political games.\u201d The legislation has 74 Senate co-sponsors, including Gillibrand, and easily passed the House last week.<\/p>\n

The bill would extend though 2092 a victims compensation fund created after the 2001 terrorist attacks, essentially making it permanent. The $7.4 billion fund is rapidly being depleted, and administrators recently cut benefit payments by up to 70%.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur 9-11 first responders and the entire nation are watching to see if this body actually cares … about the men and women who answered the call of duty\u201d after the attacks, Gillibrand said.<\/p>\n

As the World Trade Center towers began to crumble that day, \u201cthere was one group of men and women \u2014 our heroes, the bravest among us \u2014 who ran the opposite way,\u201d Gillibrand said. \u201cThey ran toward danger. They raced up towers. They went into harm’s way to answer the call of duty.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the months after the attacks, first responders cleaned up the aftermath, breathing in toxic air amid smoke, burning metal, crushed glass and electronics and other hazards.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese heroes have since had to quit doing the jobs they love, providing for the families they love because they’re too sick,\u201d Gillibrand said. \u201cThey’ve had to give up their income. They’ve had to give up their dreams and their future. They’ve had to face the terrifying reality that they are actually going to die because of what they did on 9-11 and the months thereafter.\u201d<\/p>\n

She and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, also of New York, urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring up the bill as soon as Thursday. McConnell, R-Ky., has agreed to call a vote before Congress goes on its August recess.<\/p>\n

Schumer, Gillibrand and Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., want McConnell to bring up the bill as a stand-alone measure and not package it with other legislation such as a broad budget and debt deal that would stave off the likelihood of a government shutdown this fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe minute this bill hits the floor, it will pass,\u201d Schumer said.<\/p>\n

Debate over the measure comes a month after comedian Jon Stewart sharply criticized Congress for failing to act. Stewart, a longtime advocate for 9-11 responders, said lawmakers were showing \u201cdisrespect\u201d to first responders now suffering from respiratory ailments and other illnesses as a result of their recovery work at the former World Trade Center site in New York City.<\/p>\n

Stewart called the sparse attendance at a June 11 House hearing \u201can embarrassment to the country and a stain on this institution.\u201d He later targeted McConnell for slow-walking a previous version of the legislation and using it as a \u201cpolitical pawn\u201d to get other things done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 Republican Sen. Rand Paul on Wednesday blocked fast-track approval of a bipartisan bill that would ensure a victims’ …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":223387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-223383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-matthew-daly","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223383"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223388,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223383\/revisions\/223388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}