Pelosi Dear Colleague to Members on World Trade Center Health Program

September 11, 2015

Dear Democratic Colleague,

Fourteen years ago today, the world witnessed a horrific attack against our nation.  Yet, out of the ashes of the fallen World Trade Center towers, the crushed concrete of the Pentagon, and a burning field in Pennsylvania, Americans rose united.

Heroic men and women stepped forward to help save lives, to search for survivors, to sift through the rubble – even at the cost of their health and their very lives.

Each September 11, our nation honors the thousands of people we lost that terrible day, and all those we have lost to 9/11-related illnesses in the years since.  But we must honor them with deeds as well as words.

Without Congressional action, the WTC Health Program which provides vital medical monitoring, treatment and compensation for those selfless Americans who assisted at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the Shanksville, Pa. crash sites will expire on September 30.  We cannot allow that to happen.

More than 33,000 responders and volunteers have developed illnesses from their time at the 9/11 sites.  Some 3,700 of them have developed cancers attributed to toxins that suffused ground zero, and sadly, we expect more to join their ranks.

Congress has a moral duty to reauthorize the vital initiative that supports their families and their care.  A bipartisan reauthorization bill has already been introduced by Congressman Jerry Nadler, Congressman Peter King, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, and Congressman Lee Zeldin.  I strongly urge Members to co-sponsor this bill.

President Lincoln once cautioned of "the silent artillery of time," wearing away at our memories.  Congress must not allow the years to dim the respect we have for the heroes of 9/11, or erode our commitment to them and their families.  Together, we will work to reauthorize the WTC Health Program.

best regards,