City Official, WTC Clinicians Testify In Support of 9/11 Health Legislation
April 23, 2009

On April 22, Congress held a hearing on the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act  (H.R. 847). The legislation would establish a permanent medical monitoring and treatment program for WTC rescue and recovery workers and the lower Manhattan community.

Caswell Holloway, Chief of Staff to Deputy Mayor for Operations Edward Skyler and Special Advisor to Mayor Bloomberg, testified in support of a steady funding stream for the WTC Centers of Excellence. "Passing this bill would, at long last, achieve these goals, and fully engage the Federal government in resolving the health challenges created by the attack on our entire nation that occurred on 9/11," said Holloway. "People from every part of the country perished in the attack, and people from all 50 states also took part in the subsequent relief and recovery efforts. And that makes addressing the resulting health effects of 9/11, as well as compensating those who were harmed as fairly and expeditiously as possible, a national responsibility."

The expert witnesses also included Dr. Jacqueline Moline, Director of the WTC Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program and Dr. Joan Reibman, Medical Director of the WTC Environmental Health Center. "We now have an interdisciplinary medical and mental health program that has evaluated and is treating approximately 3,500 patients," said Dr. Reibman in her testimony. "We continue to receive inquiries each week; while most come from local people, we have received calls from individuals living in about 20 other states."

Also speaking were the bill's sponsors, Representatives Carolyn Maloney, Jerrold Nadler and Peter King.

New Jersey Representative Frank Pallone, Chairman of the Health Subcommittee, and New York Representatives Eliot Engel and Anthony Weiner also supported the bill.