Washington (CNN) Two 9/11 first responders called on Congress Wednesday to support additional funding for aid workers, a day after comedian Jon Stewart delivered an impassioned plea to lawmakers to reauthorize the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.

"He painted a landscape to let America know that over 95,000 people in the World Trade Center health program that are being treated across our great nation are being forgotten by our federal government, by Congress, a dysfunctional body of work who continues to fail us," one of the first responders, John Feal, said on CNN's "New Day" with John Berman.

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Feal said before the hearing began on Tuesday he approached Stewart and pointed out what he said was apparent disinterest from some in the room, which helped prime Stewart for the moment when he said the comedian and longtime advocate for the responders "articulated our pain and suffering."

"I said, 'Can you see this one, he's falling asleep,'" Feal said. "I said, 'Do you see this one, he's on his cell phone.' I said it is disrespectful to those who came down here with cancer, that we're sitting here and they're not taking this serious enough."

Feal described Stewart as a "dear friend" with whom he has worked a lot, and that his whispered observation to Stewart about the hearing, along with presenting Stewart with an autographed jacket, put Stewart in the right emotional place for his impassioned speech.

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