Jon Stewart and 9/11 Responders Walk The Halls Of Congress

Comedian and recently departed “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart pushed Congress Wednesday to renew a bill compensating the first responders who exposed themselves to illness in their response to the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

Stewart helped get the law into existence in 2010, when he invited first responders suffering from illnesses to appear on The Daily Show and talk about their health problems. “I’m embarrassed for our country, for New York, that you have to come down here and ask people to do what’s right for the illness that you suffered because of your heroism and your selflessness”, he said.

“I’m here today, basically, to apologize”, Stewart said. “I think we will see Stewart in the media during the 2016 presidential race commenting on the aspects of the race and issues he feels passionately must be addressed”.

The law is set to expire at month’s end. He is lobbying members of Congress to extend and make permanent the medical benefits and compensation for 33,000 first responders and family members still reeling from the physical and psychological effects of what’s considered the worst terrorist attack on American soil. “Just days before, many of them wrapped the American flag around themselves and thanked these firefighters for their service”, Alles, also deputy chief of the Fire Department of New York, said. “He showed senators thanking police, firefighters, others who worked on the pile for risking their lives and then going to the floor and being a blockade”.

The day of lobbying will include a midday update for the news media, according to 9/11 survivors and responders’ advocate John Feal and Benjamin Chevat, executive director of the advocacy group Citizens for Extension of the James Zadroga Act. “I’m embarrassed”, he said.

As of Monday, the bill’s renewal had 150 sponsors, 68 shy of what it needs to pass the House, while the Senate had 36 sponsors. This is insanity and we can drill down into the bureaucratic details of the expiration is a month from now and it’s actually a five year bill.