By Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
WASHINGTON 鈥� Legislators on both sides of the aisle outraged over drastic cuts to the agency that oversees the have fired off a letter to President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. demanding the pivotal services be restored.
In their letter, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., U.S. Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., and several other federal legislators voiced concerns about Kennedy鈥檚 plans to eliminate the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health鈥檚 entire staff 鈥渋n the next few days.鈥�
Trump and Kennedy announced Tuesday they planned to lay off two-thirds of NIOSH staffers. Kennedy also fired Dr. John Howard, the World Trade Center Health Program鈥檚 administrator. Around 873 other positions are to be culled, Kennedy said.
NIOSH doctors are responsible for certifying conditions for 9/11 first responders and survivors seeking help from the WTC Health Program, bringing the program to a virtual halt, advocates said.
鈥淲e were appalled at the recent announcement,鈥� the lawmakers wrote about Trump鈥檚 and Kennedy鈥檚 decision. 鈥淭he WTCHP relies on NIOSH staff to fulfill many of its obligations under the law, and eliminating staff that implement it, especially as more and more responders and survivors fall ill with 9/11-related conditions, will directly interfere with program operations and undermine access to the treatment these heroes have earned and deserve.鈥�
The legislators demanded Kennedy explain why he decided to fire Howard, and provide a plan on how the WTC Health Program will keep certifying enrollees without NIOSH doctors. They鈥檙e hoping to get answers to these questions by next week.
鈥淚t鈥檚 outrageous. People will die if we don鈥檛 get this (funding) restored,鈥� Schumer told the New York Daily News on Wednesday. 鈥淲e fought too hard for this.鈥�
鈥淭he secretary needs to either answer all these questions or restore Dr. Howard and the NIOSH, CDC staff that were doing this work who were terminated,鈥� added Benjamin Chevat, executive director of the Citizens for Extension of the James Zadroga Act. 鈥淭his wasn鈥檛 a scalpel or even a chainsaw. This was bulldozer that is leveling the program.鈥�
Tens of thousands of the to get treatment and medication and monitor injuries and illnesses caused by the toxins that swirled around ground zero during 9/11 and the weeks that followed.
Drastic cuts to the 9/11 program were after Republican lawmakers sounded the alarm. The rare reversal from Trump in February saw him restore two research grants and the jobs of 16 employees.
The program was also threatened under the last Trump administration. In 2018, the the agency to put it under the purview of just the CDC.
It鈥檚 estimated that more than 400,000 people were affected by the toxins swirling over ground zero. More than 127,000 people have been enrolled in the WTC Health Program.
Out of that number more than 81,000 have a certified 9/11 illness from their exposure during and after the terror attacks on the World Trade Center, as well as the hijacked plane crashes in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon, according to the program鈥檚 website.
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