Advocates to fight for 9/11 first responders program targeted by Trump administration's federal job cuts
John Feal supervised the cleanup and worked on the pile after the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.
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An advocate for 9/11 first responders says he and others will try to save the World Trade Center Health Program from being destroyed by the Trump administration's federal job cuts.
John Feal supervised the cleanup and worked on the pile after the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.
Feal, who is also the founder of the Feal Good Foundation, was injured and had to undergo a partial amputation after an 8,000-pound steel beam fell and crushed his foot.
Today Feal says he's gearing up for another battle to save the health program that has helped so many get the help they need.
He calls the Trump administration's federal job cuts "inhumane."
"The World Trade Center Health Program is a lifeline to 137,000 people -- 9/11 heroes, volunteers and those who lived, and worked and went to school in Lower Manhattan," Feal says. "And these people now who are dealing with severe respiratory illnesses, severe cancers -- there's over 30,000 people with a certified cancer. That means when those people are cut and no longer work for the federal government, they cut 20% of that staff. That staff is responsible for certifying people's illnesses, that staff is responsible to ensure that there is no fraud, that staff is responsible to ensure that research continues."
Feal says he and a delegation of first responders, union members and political leaders will head to Washington, D.C. next week to lobby for the $3 billion needed to fund the World Trade Center Health Program until 2090.
