Mayor: Increase Federal Support for 9/11 Workers

WASHINGTON — Mayor Bloomberg is pushing Congress to pass a bill increasing federal support for ground zero workers before lawmakers leave town for the year.

Joined by Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Peter King, the mayor testified before a House subcommittee on legislation that would create a federal program to monitor and treat workers who contracted respiratory illnesses after toiling at the World Trade Center site following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The bill, which could cost as much as $13 billion over 10 years, would also reopen the federal victims compensation fund. It enjoys support among Democratic leaders, but a senior Republican yesterday questioned whether it was too broad and too costly. "If I had to vote on this legislation today, I would vote no," the ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Joseph Barton of Texas, said. Mr. Bloomberg and members of the New York delegation defended the bill, saying it had been scaled back from earlier versions.