RHINEBECK – U.S. Representative Antonio Delgado (NY-19) joined the NY delegation in urging Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to immediately release the $3.7 million in reimbursements currently being withheld from the World Trade Center Health Program.
These funds were authorized through the bipartisan “James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act” and support first responders and others sickened due to exposure to toxins caused by the 9/11 attacks. The delegation letter follows reports that the Trump Administration, “siphoned nearly $4 million away from a program that tracks and treats FDNY firefighters and medics suffering from 9/11 related illnesses…”
In their letter to Sec. Mnuchin, the Members wrote, “We are deeply concerned to learn that your Department, without any apparent notice to the FDNY World Trade Center Health Program, has been withholding part of the clinics’ reimbursement for several years.”
The Members go on to say, “Because of the Treasury Department’s withholding of funds through the Treasury Offset Program, the World Trade Center Health Program is short millions of dollars that it requires in order to provide the medical treatment and monitoring that our 9/11 responders need and deserve. We urge you to immediately direct your staff to release the full amount of these payments so that the healthcare and well-being of our nation’s heroes is not put at risk over an unconnected dispute.”
The other members of the New York delegation who signed the letter include: Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Peter King (R-NY), Lee Zeldin (R-NY), Thomas Suozzi (D-NY), Kathleen Rice (D-NY), Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Grace Meng (D-NY), Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Max Rose (D-NY), Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), José Serrano (D-NY), Eliot Engel (D-NY), Nita Lowey (D-NY), Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Anthony Brindisi (D-NY), John Katko (R-NY), Joseph Morelle (D-NY), Brian Higgins (D-NY), and Chris Jacobs (R-NY).
The full text of the letter below and a PDF can be found here.
