WASHINGTON – As Congress moved late yesterday to take back some of the $125 million intended to help pay workers’ compensation claims of those injured as a result of the September 11 terrorist attacks on America, New York lawmakers and rescue personnel who were at ground zero blasted President Bush.

“This rescission, this pulling back of the money is on the back of some of our greatest heroes,” Senator Schumer, a Democrat, said. He accused Mr. Bush of breaking faith with the police, firefighters, and ambulance personnel he famously saluted from atop a fire truck three days after the strikes.

“You come to New York. You called them heroes. It is not fair to pull the rug out from under them,” Mr. Schumer said.

Senator Clinton, a Democrat, said she was baffled by the move, which originated at the Office of Management and Budget. “It is inexplicable to me that we would renege on what was a solemn promise to these brave men and women,” she said.

Rep. James Walsh, a Republican, offered an amendment to restore the funding during a meeting of the House Appropriations Committee last night.

[The committee voted 35-28 against Mr. Walsh’s amendment, but they did decide to let New York keep a separate piece of $44 million in workers’ compensation funding, according to the Associated Press.]

The Bush administration has taken the position that the $125 million was intended to help New York State officials cope with an expected flood of workers’ compensation claims. The claims of most workers were expected to be paid by private insurers, but the processing is handled by the state. According to federal officials, the state was never swamped with claims.

However, a report issued last week by the General Accounting Office accused the state of illegally diverting $44 million of the federal money to the Crime Victims Board and the State Insurance Fund. In a letter to members of Congress, Governor Pataki said the transfer was aboveboard.

“This transfer was authorized by the United States Department of Labor to pay related claims costs of individuals affected in the immediate aftermath of the attacks,” Mr. Pataki wrote.

The injured workers who spoke at the press conference yesterday said they continue to cope with the impact of the attacks. The workers complained of red tape and unfairness in efforts to compensate those hurt at the World Trade Center site. However, none of the speakers said specifically how the proposed rescission or any other federal government action had caused or exacerbated their problems.

“People say 9/11 is four years old and people need to move on,” a paramedic, Marvin Bethea, said. “How can we move on when we’re not being taken care of?”

Mr. Bethea said he was nearly crushed twice at ground zero, when each tower collapsed. He suffered a stroke about five weeks later. He said his employer, St. Vincent’s Hospital, gave him an award for his heroism, but workers’ compensation attorneys later questioned whether he was even at the World Trade Center site.

A construction supervisor whose foot was crushed at ground zero a few days after the attacks, John Seal, expressed bitterness about the federal government’s effort to recoup the money from the state. “The White House is wrong. The Bush administration is wrong. I want to say shame on the president for letting this go on,” Mr. Seal said. “I lost half a body part for my country.”