WASHINGTON – Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said Tuesday she has corralled a veto-proof 60 votes to extend the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund that would aid emergency responders and other victims of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks.
That means the bill would pass if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) puts it on the floor.
Gillibrand’s announcement comes just an hour before activist John Feal – a Ground Zero worker and the founder of the Fealgood Foundation – sits down with McConnell to urge him to pass legislation that would renew the fund.
“Our 9/11 first responders are sick, they are dying, and they have already had to spend too much of their precious time traveling to Washington and fighting to convince members of Congress that making the Victim Compensation Fund permanent is the right thing to do,” Gillibrand said in a statement Tuesday.
“We have the votes for this bill to pass as soon as it comes to the floor,” she said. “I urge Senator McConnell to not stand in the way and commit to a standalone, up-or-down vote on this legislation as soon as it passes the House.”
The proposal permanently reauthorizes the fund, which gives payouts to first responders and other victims of the terror attacks, and their families.
Eighteen Republicans and 42 Democrats, including Gillibrand, who’s the primary sponsor of the bill, are now co-sponsoring the legislation.
McConnell is one of the last impediments to the bill’s passage.
Last week McConnell was called out by former “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart for not acting compassionately toward the victims of the September 11 terror attacks. “There is no way we won’t address this problem appropriately,” McConnell shot back.
Stewart put the issue back on the country’s radar earlier in the month when he shamed members of a House Judiciary subcommittee for not showing up to hear testimony from first responders like police detective Luis Alvarez, who is now in hospice dying of liver cancer caused by the work he did at Ground Zero.
A day after Alvarez and Stewart’s House testimony, the House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously in support of the bill getting a full House vote.
The Congressional Budget Office still needs to issue an analysis of the cost of the legislation before it goes to the Democratic-run House for a vote, where it’s expected to pass easily. Votes in the Republican-led Senate are expected after that.