This will mark the greatest accomplishment in Congressmember Carolyn Maloney’s long legislative career. When President Barack Obama signs the historic 9/11 healthcare bill covering thousands of workers sickened in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, it will mark the greatest accomplishment in Congressmember Carolyn Maloney’s long legislative career.

For Maloney and co-sponsors Congressmembers Jerrold Nadler and Peter King, it successfully ended an almost 10 year effort on behalf of thousands of ailing first responders and survivors who became ill working on the Ground Zero cleanup.

With strong support from the entire New York congressional delegation in the House, hopes of passage of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act were kept alive almost a decade.

In the final stage of the straggle, New York’s Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand carried on a tough negotiating campaign which eventually won Republican support for a $4.3 billion, five year healthcare aid program.

The new law will also reopen the federal Victim Compensation Fund to provide economic relief to those harmed by the attacks.

“To 9/11 responders and survivors who have suffered for so long, help is finally on the way,” Maloney declared. With this vote, Congress repaid a long overdue debt and answered the emergency calls of thousands of ailing 9/11 first responders and survivors.”

The Queens-Manhattan lawmaker added, “This bipartisan compromise is a strong program that will save lives. I thank Speaker Pelosi and Leader Hoyer for their dedication to those who are sick or injured because of 9/11. I applaud Senators Gillibrand and Schumer for brokering the compromise reached today, and I remain eternally grateful to my friends and coauthors, Jerry Nadler and Peter King, and all our colleagues in the New York delegation.”

Nadler responded, “Along with Carolyn Maloney, my staff and I have worked on this legislation for literally nine years.”

King, a Republican from Long Island, stated: “This is a great victory for the heroes of September 11th, the firefighters, police officers and construction workers. Justice is finally being served. A great day for America.”

Speaking following the historic vote had taken place last Tuesday, Schumer and Gillibrand said in a joint statement: We thank our Republican friends for coming together to fulfill America’s moral obligation to the heroes of 9/11, Schumer said. “This has been a long process but we are now on the cusp of victory these heroes deserve,” Gillibrand said. The two senators said “the breakthrough came after marathon negotiations between them and Republican Senators Mike Enzi (Wyoming) and Tom Coburn (Oklahoma). The negotiations, they said “produced a compromise measure that reduced the bill’s cost without reducing benefits for rescue workers”.

Explaining what the finally approved $4.3 billion package covers, they said it would be spaced over more than five years. Those covered would be Ground Zero responders and volunteers and morgue employees as well as people who lived near Ground Zero, or worked or attended school nearby.

The package includes, Schumer and Gillibrand added, $1.5 billion for treatment of breathing disorders and mental health problems; and $2.8 billion in compensation for those affected.

New York City will have to contribute up to $500 million over a 10-year period.

In a prepared statement, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the new law affirms our nations commitment to protecting those who protect us all. The events of that day were an attack on America by a foreign enemy, and addressing its health impacts is a national duty.

“As we look forward to the 10th Anniversary of the September 11th attacks, I am encouraged that our elected representatives in Washington came together and stood by those who were there for America in its hour of greatest need.”

Congressmember Anthony Weiner (DQueens/ Brooklyn) said in a statement:

“As some may recall, I have had my differences with my Republican colleagues on this issue, but I am glad they finally put aside politics and pointless delay so that the heroes of 9/11 will not suffer any further due to simple partisanship.”

In a similar vein, Congressmember Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside/L.I.) stated:

“Although it was unconscionable that we had to battle Republican opposition to finally win this fight and that we were forced by the GOP to water down the amount the legislation provides--we have achieved a major victory in fulfilling our nation’s obligation to help the responders, volunteer workers and the residents who went to Ground Zero during and after the horrific 9/11 attacks.”

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, many of whose officers are among those who became ill working at Ground Zero, stated: “The Senate recognized that 9/11 was not just an attack on New York, but an attack on America, and that those who responded and died or succumbed to illness afterward did so in service to the nation.”

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, whose district includes Ground Zero, stated:

That passage of the bill “will literally save lives and our brave and suffering 9/11 rescue workers and the thousands of Downtown residents who are also casualties of the attacks have overcome the primary obstacle in their path to receiving the health care they so desperately need”.