Obama Signs Bill to Help 9/11 Workers

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

The New York Times January 2, 2011 HONOLULU * President Obama took time out of his Hawaiian vacation on Sunday to sign into law one of the surprise accomplishments of the lame-duck Congress: a measure covering the cost of medical care for rescue workers and others sickened by toxic fumes and dust after the 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. To become law, the bill required Mr. Obama’s signature before he returned to Washington on Tuesday, so he signed it at his rented vacation home in the town of Kailua, near Honolulu. There was no signing ceremony, as there would probably have been had the president been at the White House. Instead, Mr. Obama’s official photographer recorded the moment, and the White House said it would release a picture. The $4.3 billion bill became a major point of contention in the waning days of the Congressional session. Republican senators blocked a more expensive House version, and as it appeared that the measure was going to die, the comedian Jon Stewart took up the cause, using his Comedy Central television program to advocate passage. Ultimately, the Senate approved the less expensive measure; the House quickly followed suit and sent the bill to the president. Yet Congress did not send the president the enrolled bill * the final, official copy, printed on parchment paper and signed by House and Senate officials * before he left for Hawaii on Dec. 23, according to Bill Burton, White House deputy press secretary. Mr. Obama had a 10-day window to sign it, so the official copy was flown to Hawaii, carried by a White House staff member who was traveling here anyway, Mr. Burton said.

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Obama signs 9/11 Zadroga health bill: It's nice to see pols in Washington get it right

by Mike Lupica New York Daily News

Monday, January 3rd 2011, 4:00 AM This was the end of the long fight, at the end of a presidential vacation in Hawaii, the President signing the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act into law. Much has been made of the fact that the occasion was so quiet. So were the heroes who started it all. The $4.3 billion in Zadroga, named after a fallen NYPD detective named James Zadroga, is for rescue workers and first responders who went to work at what was left of the World Trade Center as soon as they thought it was safe, even when it was not. Now, finally, the ones who are still around are going to get paid by the government, because sometimes the government still does what it is supposed to do. That means look out for Americans, starting with great Americans, the ones who rushed downtown in those first days after the planes hit because it was the right thing to do. Because it is what great Americans have always done. John Feal was a demolition worker at Site 7 in those days and ended up losing half his left foot to an accident. It is not just New York politicians like Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, and U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Jerry Nadler and Peter King, who have led this fight on the Zadroga bill. It is ones like Feal, who kept loading up his buses and making his trips to Washington, hoping Washington would listen. Hoping Washington would do the right thing. This is what Feal, who started his FealGood Foundation to help aid the heroes of Ground Zero, said Sunday, from his home in Nesconset, L.I.: "The President's signature on this piece of historic legislation gives the 9/11 community closure and validity. Frankly, it doesn't matter to me who signs this bill to enact it, what matters most is thousands of men and women are finally served justice. There's still more work ahead of us. But we're confident and remain determined to see the bill and its program up and running by July of this year." There will be more ceremonies than usual around Sept. 11 this y ear, because of the 10th anniversary. Really it all began Sunday with the President Obama signing Zadroga into law while on vacation in Hawaii, a long way from Sept. 11 and a long way from home. In the early afternoon, Feal was asked what he would be doing around the time that the President would make it all official. "I'll be going through news channels on a pretty good football Sunday," Feal said, "hoping I get to see something more than a still photograph of history we've waited a long time for." With or without live coverage, the day was a victory for him, for Schumer and Gillibrand, for Maloney and Nadler and King, for all who still want to believe in the very best of this country.