Brooklyn, N.Y. – Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke released the following statement in support of H.R. 1786, the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Reauthorization Act, which will extend the World Trade Center Health Program and the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Unless Congress acts, these critical programs will soon expire. Every member of the New York State Delegation to Congress – seventeen Democrats and nine Republicans – have joined in support of H.R. 1786.

“We have a responsibility to the courageous men and women – the emergency responders, the rescue workers, and the survivors of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the site of the airplane crash in  Shanksville, Pennsylvania – to continue providing comprehensive health care to those individuals who were injured or were subsequently afflicted by illness as a result. Their rates of cancer, problems with breathing, disorders of the digestive tract, and other complications remain disproportionately high and continue to afflict people who participated in 9/11 rescue and recovery efforts. Congress must act. Otherwise, the World Trade Center Health Program will expire on September 30, 2015. We must protect access for those individuals who depend on this critical program – and who have every right to expect assistance. I commend my colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee, both Democrats and Republicans, for their commitment to the 70,000 people currently enrolled in this program who deserve our full support.” 

Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke is a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce in the House of Representatives, a member of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, and the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, as well as the Committee on Ethics and the Committee of Small Business. She represents many neighborhoods in central and southern Brooklyn, NY which include Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Midwood, parts of Park Slope and Flatlands, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Sheepshead Bay, and Windsor Terrace.