Catherwood LibraryILR School

After years of trying, the Senate and House passed a bill that will provide health care to 9/11 first responders. The bill was blocked last week by Republicans, but after the bill was cut to $4.3 billion, they agreed to vote on it. The bill will provide health care and other compensation to first responders suffering health problems from their work at Ground Zero. Nearly sixty thousand people are thought to have been affected. New York Senator Gillibrand called the bill a "Christmas miracle". Republican senators who held up the bill said that they were concerned over its costs, not about the purpose of the bill. However many did not see it that way, calling for the Senate to pass the bill. 10,000 workers just settled a lawsuit against the city, and those workers will be limited in what they can receive from this fund.