Well being and Human Companies Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. admitted making a “mistake” in slashing the well being program that serves Sept. 11 first responders, however dodged questions on whether or not he would return it to full staffing.
RFK Jr. informed Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) that firing many staffers on the World Commerce Heart Well being Program was an error made because the incoming Trump administration sought to make deep across-the-board cuts to spending.
“It was part of the overall budget cuts that were going to be painful,” Kennedy mentioned at a Senate committee listening to on Wednesday. “Some of them should not have been made and I reversed that one. We made a couple of mistakes.”
Kennedy mentioned he moved to rescind the job cuts and declared the “program will continue.”
Regardless of the apology, Kennedy dodged Kim’s query about whether or not the WTC Well being Program will return to full staffing.
He additionally declined to commit to revive funding for the Nationwide Firefighter Registry for Most cancers, one other key useful resource for first responders who had been sickened after serving at Floor Zero following the fear assaults of Sept. 11, 2001.
“On the list of things in this Congress that we think are bipartisan and unanimous … should be supporting our heroes at the World Trade Center,” Kim mentioned.
The 9/11 well being program was hobbled for months by cuts of about 20% of its workers after Trump returned to the White Home and even after Kennedy agreed to revive this system in March amid bipartisan outcry.
It additionally was crippled by the administration’s failure to totally restore the authority of its director, Dr. James Howard, a step that was taken solely not too long ago after Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike spoke out once more two weeks in the past.
Sept. 11 advocates query whether or not the restoration of the cuts shall be everlasting.
“This is a national test of whether we truly meant it when we said ‘never forget,’ ” mentioned Michael Barasch, a lawyer who has represented 9/11 first responders. “Kennedy has the chance to stop the bureaucratic cruelty and make the 9/11 community healthy again.”
Firefighters at Floor Zero in Manhattan. September 2001. (AP Picture/Mark Lennihan, File)
Howard and a number of other staffers had been fired in March as a part of a large effort spearheaded by Elon Musk’s Division of Authorities Effectivity to downsize federal spending.
After a flurry of bipartisan outcry, the White Home mentioned on the time that it was reversing the staffing cuts and reinstating Howard.
After the contemporary spherical of criticism, the well being program resumed enrollments and therapy approvals. Howard was absolutely reinstated to his put up. The employees have been informed they won’t be fired in any case, not less than for now.
A firefighter kneels within the rubble of the World Commerce Heart after it was destroyed by planes in a terrorist assault on Sept. 11, 2001. (Todd Maisel / New York Each day Information)
This system offers well being providers to about 137,000 first responders and survivors who suffered accidents and diseases brought on by the toxins that swirled round Floor Zero throughout 9/11 and the weeks that adopted.
About 83,000 have not less than one licensed 9/11 sickness from their publicity throughout and after the fear assaults on the World Commerce Heart, in addition to the hijacked airplane crashes close to Shanksville, Pa., and on the Pentagon.
Initially Printed: Might 14, 2025 at 5:18 PM EDT
