President Trump will be joined by more than 200 first responders and survivors of the Sept. 11 terror attacks when he signs legislation extending the Victim Compensation Fund.
The signing ceremony will be held in the White House on Monday and will feature people “directly impacted by the 9/11 terrorist attacks, including first responders, survivors and family members of victims.”
After passing the House by a resounding 402-12 vote, the bill passed the Senate 98-2. Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah voted against the package because of concerns about funding for the legislation.
Comedian Jon Stewart, 56, has been a public advocate for the first responders and lobbied Congress intensely on passing the fund extension. A video of the former Daily Show host chastising members of Congress while testifying before a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee went viral in June.
Stewart and Paul traded barbs after Paul objected to a unanimous consent vote on the legislation and forced debate on the matter. Both Paul and Lee introduced amendments to the bill that dealt with funding the measure, but both failed to pass.
Stewart, who is often a critic of Trump, offered rare praise for the president in February for the way his administration was handling the fund. At the time he made the remarks, Stewart was lobbying to extend the legislation, which was previously set to expire in 2020.
“Are the cameras on? Is everybody on me? The Trump Justice Department is doing an excellent job administrating this program. The claims are going through faster, and the awards are coming through,” Stewart said of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund. “The Trump Justice Department, I don’t know about anything else, I’m not going to comment on anything else, but that’s why we’re in the problem that we’re in is the program works exactly like it’s supposed to, so now it’s Congress’ job to fund it properly and let these people live in peace.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the White House to see if Stewart had gotten or would receive an invite to Monday’s event but didn’t receive an immediate response.
The bill extends the fund until 2090 and covers lost wages and other financial losses experienced by first responders sickened by the attack and subsequent cleanup. The bill is projected to cost about $10 billion in the first decade.
