President Donald Trump’s deep cuts to the federal agency overseeing health services for survivors of the September 11th attacks have triggered widespread condemnation, including from Republicans worried the reduction will jeopardize a program that has symbolized the government’s commitment to victims of a defining event of the last quarter century.
On Friday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., announced 10,000 employees would be cut from the federal agency, including the longtime director of the World Trade Center Health Program, which supports the health care of people exposed to toxic debris at the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and the Flight 93 crash site.
Of the 140,000 enrollees in the program to date, the largest plurality of recipients – 44,000 individuals – were treated for cancer linked to particles inhaled in the aftermath of the attacks, according to data kept by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In September, the FDNY announced the number of first responders who died in the aftermath of the attacks due to exposure had surpassed the number killed on the day of the attacks.
Last year, the program approved claims for 58,000 people totalling $327 million.
The program’s administrator, Dr. John Howard, who had led it since 2002, was fired along with hundreds of employees at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, part of the CDC, which oversees the program. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and a Republican congressman from Long Island have condemned the move from the Trump administration.
In a joint statement Wednesday, Schumer and Gillibrand blasted the decision, saying it would lead to the delay and denial of crucial medical care for the tens of thousands of people enrolled in the program, which received more than 10,000 new applicants in 2024.
“It is nothing less than a complete betrayal to the memory of those we lost on 9/11 and the heroes who courageously stood up to help New York and our country during one of America’s darkest hours,” Schumer said.
Some Republicans have also expressed concern. U.S. Rep. Andrew Garbarino, a Long Island Republican from Bayport, said the cuts should be reversed, calling them “mistakes” in a statement first reported by Newsday.
The cuts follow previously announced reductions to the program in February that the administration reversed after a backlash from Schumer, Gillibrand, Garbarino and other New York lawmakers.
“He clearly either didn’t get the message, or worse, just does not care. It’s an outrageous betrayal of ‘never forget,’” Gillibrand said.
