With little of the pomp that might be expected to go with a major legislative victory from the lame duck session of Congress, President Obama signed into law the measure to pay for medical care for rescue workers and others sickened by toxic fumes and dust after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, on the World Trade Center.
"I was honored to sign the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act to ensure that rescue and recovery workers, residents, students and other suffering from health consequences related to the World Trade Center disaster have access to the medical monitoring and treatment they need," Obama said in a statement released after the low-key signing at his rented vacation home in Hawaii. "We will never forget the selfless courage demonstrated by the firefighters, police officers, and first responders who risked their lives to save others. I believe this is a critical step for those who continue to bear the physical scars of those attacks."
The $4.3 billion bill, which was passed on the final day of the 111th Congress, had been held up in the Senate for months by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and others who contended that the program would increase the federal deficit and could be vulnerable to fraud and abuse.
Normally a legislative victory like this would be accompanied by a formal signing ceremony at the White House. But to become law, the measure had to be signed by the president before he returns to Washington on Tuesday. So instead, the White House released a photo of Obama signing the bill.
In the nine years since the terrorist attacks, hundreds of rescue workers who responded to Ground Zero have become ill or even died from serious respiratory problems. The bill was named for James Zadroga, a New York City police detective who worked on the rescue effort at the World Trade Center and whose death in 2006 was attributed to exposure to toxic fumes at the site.
