Bill to Reopen Aid Fund For 9/11 Victims

By GINGER ADAMS OTIS

New Jersey U.S. Senator Robert Menendez introduced the James Zadroga Act - named for the NYPD Detective whose death earlier this year was linked to his work in the World Trade Center recovery operation - in Congress Sept. 12.

The bill would amend the eligibility rules of the Federal 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund, extending the filing deadline beyond the original cut-off time of December 2003.

Would Offer Financial Aid

Mr. Menendez hopes to re-open the fund so that first-responders, their family members and others affected by the toxic dust at Ground Zero can still be compensated.

Bill co-sponsors include U.S. Sens. Hillary Clinton, Frank Lautenberg (also of New Jersey) and Charles E. Schumer.

The James Zadroga Act would also allow for the adjustment of previous awards and change some of the eligibility requirements so that first-responders who arrived at Ground Zero after the first 96 hours of the disaster can apply for benefits.

Senator Menendez said he crafted the legislation as a way to help first-responders "whose wounds have yet to heal" from 9/11.

"We cannot let bureaucratic red tape stand between those who helped America pick up the pieces and the compensation they deserve," he added.

House's Companion Bill

A similar bill was introduced in the House of Representatives by U.S. Reps. Carolyn B. Maloney and Vito Fossella. The push to re-open the Victims Compensation has been endorsed by Mayor Bloomberg as well.

Two weeks ago, the Mayor announced several major initiatives being developed by the city to better aid sick 9/11 workers, volunteers and lower Manhattan residents. He also called upon the Federal Government to shoulder some of the fiscal burden, terming the environmental and health repercussions of 9/11 "a national obligation."

Mr. Zadroga, who was 34 when he passed away in January, was the first recovery worker whose death was directly attributed by a Medical Examiner to Ground Zero toxins.

Detective Zadroga became sick just weeks after working at the Trade Center site. Because he had retired in 2004, the NYPD upon his death granted his four-yearold daughter a disability pension - not the full death benefit that Mr. Zadroga's father and mother felt she was entitled to. In August, after much pressure in Albany from the Detectives' Endowment Association and leaders of other uniformed unions, Governor Pataki amended the state's World Trade Center Disability Law to grant the families of first-responders who succumb to illnesses stemming from the 9/11 response line-of-duty death benefits.