Congress keeps 9/11 health programs together, with Lowey playing key role

Nancy Cutler | Rockland/Westchester Journal News

Show Caption Hide Caption Video: Welles Crowther, the Man in the Red Bandanna Remembering Welles Remy Crowther of Upper Nyack, the Man in the Red Bandanna, 15 years after Sept. 11.

A misguided Trump budget proposal to split up crucial key 9/11 health programs has been stopped. The plan to reorganize key health agencies could have damaged our nation's promise to ensure the best health care possible for 9/11 survivors.

According to U.S. Rep. Peter King, a Long Island Republican, the mislaid plan was scuttled by four New York congressional members. He gave considerable credit to Rep. Nita Lowey, D-Harrison. The organizations' current structure has served first responders and others who still suffer life-threatening health effects from the toxic swirl that enveloped Ground Zero after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Lowey, the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, led the campaign to defeat the administration's proposal, King said. On June 27, the House committee released a report that offered no changes to the 9/11 Healthcare Program. King also thanked Reps. Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney, Manhattan Democrats.

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The shuffle could have potentially disrupted care for some 83,000 9/11 first responders and survivors who reside in all 50 states.

The proposed change, engineered by Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, would have put two connected agencies — the World Trade Center Health Program and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health — under the jurisdiction of two separate agencies. The WTC Health Program would have been part of the Centers for Disease Control, and NIOSH would have shifted over to the National Institutes of Health.

The two programs are not just complementary. Leadership is linked — NIOSH Director Dr. John Howard serves as administrator of the World Trade Center health program. So is expertise — NIOSH has been working on 9/11 health issues since 2002, well before the creation of the WTC Health Program under the 2010 Zadroga Act.

In March, former "Daily Show" host and 9/11 first-responder champion Jon Stewart called the Trump budget proposal "a special kind of incompetence."

Thankfully, Lowey, King and other members of Congress rallied to block this bad move.

As the first-responder community continues to announce 9/11-related deaths, every week, sometimes every day, and as the losses are expected for years to come, these programs remain important and desperately needed.

It still remains unclear how this "budgetary" move would have saved any money. But breaking them up could have cost lives.

Nancy Cutler is an engagement editor. Follow her on Twitter: @nancyrockland