By Matt Meduri
With no other state affected by the September 11 attacks quite like New York, it’s fitting that the New York congressional delegation led the charge in recently securing lifetime funding for the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program.
The FY2026 appropriations minibus package includes full funding for 9/11 health care throughout the program’s lifetime. For Congressman Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport), the fund has been a priority since he began his tenure in Congress in 2021. Along with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-Albany), the two are the lead sponsors of the 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act, which served as the basis of the new funding formula.
Their efforts have led to delaying program cuts, expanding eligibility to 9/11 responders, and addressing funding shortfalls – all to have secured around $2.3 billion for responders and survivors.
The WTCHP was bipartisanly established in 2011 to cover the lifespans of all “exposed individuals, including first responders, survivors of the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the Shanksville crash site, children who attended schools in downtown Manhattan on 9/11 and during the clean-up, and those who have since developed, or are expected to develop, adverse health effects linked to the attacks.”
The program, reauthorized in 2015 and extended through 2090, provides medical treatment and monitoring for over 140,000 responders and survivors. That crowd spans all fifty states and nearly all 435 congressional districts.
“New Yorkers will never forget September 11th, 2001, and we have a responsibility to match our words with action. Responders and survivors must always receive the care they were promised without delays or disruption,” said Garbarino in a statement. “This provision makes corrections to the funding formula to deliver full funding for the program through its lifetime. Funding certainty matters. It ensures the program can operate as intended and that those suffering from 9/11-related illnesses can focus on their health, not bureaucracy.”
Congressman Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) echoed these sentiments, saying in a statement, “I know countless New Yorkers who are still living with the health consequences of 9/11, and ensuring they receive the care they were promised is the least we can do…This funding provides certainty, dignity, and peace of mind to the heroes and survivors who have already sacrificed so much.”
“It’s been almost 25 years since the 9/11 attacks and New York’s heroic first responders and survivors still carry with them the burden of that day as they develop chronic conditions and diseases related to the air around Ground Zero,” said Congressman Jerry Nadler (D-Lincoln Square), the dean of the New York congressional delegation, in a statement. “We promised to Never Forget 9/11 and that means taking care of all first responders and survivors of that day.”
