House panel advances bill to boost 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund

A House panel on Wednesday advanced a bill that would grant additional funding for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund until 2090.

The bill passed a committee by voice vote without opposition, according to CNN. It will now go to the floor for consideration by the entire House.

{mosads}The fund’s administrator said in February that it did not have enough money to pay all of the claims.

“Every sick responder and survivor should be treated with the same dignity and compassion,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), according to CNN. “All responders and survivors, whether they got sick in 2015 or will get sick in 2025 or 2035, should be properly compensated. Congress must act to make that happen.”

The 9/11 attack has been linked to health issues such as cancer in first responders and others. 

Former “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart testified Tuesday urging lawmakers to make sure the fund is fully funded. He expressed frustration with how long such legislation was taking and questioned why “this is so damn hard and takes so damn long.”

“I’m sorry if I sound angry and undiplomatic. But I’m angry, and you should be, too. And they’re all angry as well. And they have every justification to be that way,” he said. 

The current law is set to expire in 2020. During its 2015 renewal, Congress set aside $4.6 billion for the fund, resulting in a total appropriated of $7.4 billion. 

The bill up for consideration would extend the expiration to 2090. It does not allocate a specific amount of money.

There have been 24,000 claims through the fund since 2017, more than in the fund’s first five years in which 19,000 claims were filed.