President Trump signed legislation Monday to replenish the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund until 2090, ensuring that first responders to the terror attacks will receive compensation for medical care costs and lost wages.
“We pledge to stand by the families of those affected today and everyday. We will stand with you,” Trump said in the Rose Garden Monday before signing the bill.
The Senate last week approved the bill, the Never Forget the Heroes: Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act.
“You ran toward the wreckage into a ball of flames like frankly nobody in this country had ever seen,” Trump said to first responders at the ceremony. “You searched for survivors, went back day after day and night after night to save lives and return the fallen to their families … and to show that nothing will break America’s spirit.”
The law, sponsored by New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and brought to the house by New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney, is expected to result in $10.2 billion being paid out in the next 10 years. The law will allow first responders to file claims until 2090.
In February, the fund’s special master Rupa Bhattacharyya announced it was close to running out of money. Comedian Jon Stewart lobbied ardently for reauthorization.
One of the first responders to testify, Luis Alvarez, a former New York City police officer, died in hospice care in June after battling colorectal cancer for three years after his diagnosis. Trump honored his family in the Rose Garden.
“We can never repay the 9/11 community for what they’ve done, but we can stop penalizing them,” Stewart said once the bill cleared Congress. “There have been too many funerals, too many hospices … Their facilities deserve better.”
