GOP leaders opposed helping 9/11 first responders they praised on anniversary
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House Speaker Paul Ryan presided over a Capitol ceremony last week marking the 15th anniversary of 9/11.
"We aren't here to relive the tragedy, but to remember it --and to honor its memory," said Ryan (R-Wis.). "All of us must choose what it is we take away from it. I think of the firefighters -- the people who went rushing into danger when the whole world was running away from it."
On the anniversary itself, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) proclaimed: "9/11 should serve always as a remembrance of our fellow Americans and first responders that tragically lost their lives that day.''
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) offered a similar sentiment.
"America remembers not only the horror of those attacks, but the heroism in our response," McConnell said. "We saw fire fighters, police officers and first responders rushing into burning buildings as most rushed out."
Six years ago, though, when Congress was asked to help those firefighters and other first responders, both Ryan and McCarthy, then members of the Republican minority, voted no. So did Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), now the GOP vice-presidential nominee. In the Senate, McConnell voted to block action on the bill.
They were among the 157 Republicans who voted against the Zadroga Act to provide health care and compensation to police officers, firefighters and other first responders who were injured at the 9/11 attack sites such as the World Trade Center.
The bill was named for James Zadroga of North Arlington, a New York City police officer who died of a respiratory disease attributed to him breathing in dust at the World Trade Center site 9/11.
The measure passed, 268-160 with only 17 Republicans voting aye, including four of five from New Jersey. Only Rep. Scott Garrett (R-5th Dist.) opposed the bill.
Garrett voted for the final version in a lame-duck December session after proponents overcame a Senate Republican filibuster with the help of comedian Jon Stewart. McCarthy, Pence and Ryan all missed that vote.
In 2015, when Ryan was House speaker, McCarthy was House majority leader and McConnell led the Senate, the Republicans who controlled both chambers refused to bring up a Zadroga Act extension for a vote.
The measure eventually was folded into the $1.1 trillion catch-all spending bill to fund the government through Sept. 30 of this year.
Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), who counted Zadroga as a constituent, said lawmakers should be supporting first responders all the time, not just on special occasions.
"Don't be hypocritical about it, pat them on the back and screw them later on," Pascrell said.
GOP leaders opposed 9/11 first responders help | The Auditor
House Republican leaders praised 9/11 first responders after voting against legislation to help them.
