Jon Stewart is working together with 9/11 first responders John Feal and Richard Alles to advocate for first responders and the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program in particular, and they sat down to speak with Fox News’ Shepard Smith this afternoon.

Stewart, who has been a public advocate for helping take care of first responders for years, said right now they’re trying to raise awareness about the Victim Compensation Fund and that Congress needs to renew it before 2020.

Feal put the crisis in stark terms, saying that “we average losing somebody every 2.7 days.” He recalled how coverage from Stewart and others years ago helped the boots on the ground efforts to raise awareness that there are first responders desperately in need of care.

Alles said they want to be able to “be ahead of the curve before we have to bring sick and dying down to Washington, as we did the last time, and we can’t bring the same people down because they’re no longer with us.”

As he listened to the seriousness of this plight, at one point Smith looked directly at the camera and said this:

“If one of your representatives in Congress or in the Senate or whoever it is who has to go the voting here, the no’s––we’ll be writing those down and telling you about them eventually.”

He asked who has come out in opposition to this, and Feal told him, “Leadership on the Republican party has always been against this.”

Smith asked why, and Feal said, “The money.”

Stewart said, “It should no longer be that these guys have the burden of proof to their own government about what happened to them… Can’t we make this this time finally give them some peace?”

Watch above, via Fox News.

[image via screengrab]

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