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243 House Representatives Sponsor Never Forget the Heroes Act

May 8, 2019
HomeBlog243 House Representatives Sponsor Never Forget the Heroes Act

On February 25, 2019, a group of 92 bipartisan House Representatives served as introductory co-sponsors of the Never Forget the Heroes Act. Since that day, 151 additional House Representatives have agreed to sponsor the Never Forget the Heroes Act, bringing the total to 243- a number sure to increase as time goes on.

Two version of the bill are currently pending in Congress- H.R. 1327 in the House and S.546 in the Senate. For the Never Forget the Heroes Act to pass, we need a simple majority of votes in each chamber of congress, and the President’s signature. As it stands in the House, the Never Forget the Heroes Act has more co-sponsors than the simple majority of 218. This is great news. However, we still need 16 more votes in the Senate, which will be covered in a separate blog post.

The Never Forget the Heroes Act has been introduced to rescue the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund (9/11 VCF) from running out of money and time. The 9/11 VCF is currently in crisis since February 15, 2019 when Special Master Rupa Bhattacharyya announced devastating 50 to 70% cuts in compensation to 9/11 responders and victims.

In addition to running out of money, the 9/11 VCF is due to expire on December 18, 2020. In 2015, when the 9/11 VCF was reauthorized, legislators thought the 9/11 cancer plague would be over by December 18, 2020. We now know that due to latency periods, the 9/11 cancer rate is actually skyrocketing with a 3800% increase in just five years with over 10,000 total diagnoses.

The overwhelming support for the Never Forget the Heroes Act reinforces the fact that the 9/11 health crisis is not a New York problem – it is an American problem and a national epidemic. 9/11 victims reside in all fifty states and in 434 out of 435 Congressional districts.

Click here to find out if your Representative supports the Never Forget the Heroes Act. If they do then thank them, if they don’t then urge them to.