Emergency first responders, residents and workers who have been diagnosed with cancer and other illnesses linked to the 9/11 terror attacks could be granted access to a permanent compensation fund under proposed new legislation.

Congress created a program, known as the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, to make payments to those who have developed illnesses linked to the 2001 attacks.

But under existing rules, it is scheduled to expire in 2020 – and officials have said the $7bn it was allotted for claims could run out even earlier.

“Thousands of firefighters, police officers, federal and local law enforcement officers, medical workers, construction workers, and other heroes risked their lives for us after we were attacked on 9/11,” said Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who is sponsoring the bill in the Senate along with fellow New York senator Charles Schumer and Republican senator Cory Gardner of Colorado to permanently reauthorize and fund the program.

“We simply cannot turn our backs on our 9/11 heroes and let the victim compensation fund expire.”

After the World Trade Center’s twin towers fell in 2001, officials gave assurances that the air was safe to breathe. That proved to be tragically untrue: nearly 10,000 people have now been diagnosed with cancer linked to 9/11, and the toll continues to grow.

Thousands more have respiratory illnesses and other diseases. Those sickened include police and firefighters who rushed to the scene of the attacks, but also high school students at the time who were diagnosed with cancer in their 20s and 30s, and men working in nearby offices now diagnosed with breast cancer.

Under the Zadroga Act, Congress created a World Trade Center Health Program which will permanently offer healthcare help to people with certified illnesses.

The victim compensation fund, by contrast, has an expiration date. Its administrator said last month that the $7.3bn it has been allocated may be insufficient to compensate all valid claims even before the deadline. So far, the fund has approved more than 19,204 claims.

In the House, New York City Democrats Jerrold Nadler and Carolyn Maloney and Long Island Republican Pete King are sponsoring the bill to make it permanent.

Nadler said there are thousands of people “who may not yet know they are sick”.

“Already the VCF is running out of money, and those who become sick in the future may not have the security we promised every responder and survivor of that tragic day,” he said.