Washington, DC – In the wake of ongoing reports that volunteers and first responders who rushed down to Ground Zero following the 9/11 attacks are suffering from debilitating physical and mental health problems, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton called on her Senate colleagues, FEMA and other officials to address the medical and mental health needs of victims and first responders to disasters, natural or otherwise. At a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on possible changes to the Robert T. Stafford Act, Senator Clinton expressed her concern for the physical and mental health of the people impacted by these devastating events.

“Our firefighters, police officers, first responders, workers, and other volunteers who spent days and weeks on the pile at Ground Zero now find that many of those thousands of individuals are suffering debilitating health effects. When the Twin Towers fell in New York City there were thousands of firefighters, police officers, first responders, workers, and other volunteers who stood on the piles that were once buildings to look for any survivors. Thousands of these selfless heroes stayed for days, weeks and months as tons of debris continued to smolder and the air around them was filled with toxins. As a result today – nearly five years after those attacks – I have personally met with many individuals whose health continues to deteriorate. While I have called for and welcomed both the creation of the current World Trade Center Worker Health Monitoring Programs and the efforts of Dr. John Howard, Director of NIOSH, in his capacity as the federal coordinator for 9/11 health, the federal government has no plan to deal with this health crisis for the long-term” Senator Clinton said following the hearing.

“There are so many individuals who can no longer perform their duty as firefighters and police officers because of diseases that have materialized, decrease breathing capacity, and other ailments that have emerged since 9/11. One thing is clear: we must determine what long-term medical and mental health needs should be tracked, monitored, and treated after significant natural or manmade disasters. FEMA needs to create a long-term recovery entity which can be available to states that are overwhelmed and to ensure that our police officers, firefighters, first responders, workers, or other volunteers whose medical and mental health is impacted in a disaster are not cast aside in the debris pile but rather that they are given the care they deserve,” Senator Clinton said.

Last year, the Administration proposed rescinding $125 million in aid to New York. Senator Clinton, and her colleagues from the New York Congressional delegation, were successful in getting that funding restored so that it can be used for worker’s compensation claims that have gone unpaid as well as medical and mental health assistance for these firefighters, police officers, first responders, workers, and others who responded in a time of crisis. Senator Clinton has also worked with Senator Voinovich to introduce the Disaster Area Health and Environmental Monitoring Act which would amend the Stafford Act to allow the President to set up monitoring programs in order to protect and track the health of first responders and residents, with a priority on tracking first responders with high degrees of exposure to known toxic substances. The Senator also recently asked the Department of Health and Human Services to appoint the Director of NIOSH, Dr. Howard, to monitor the situation ongoing with Ground Zero first responders, workers, and volunteers.

At the hearing, Senator Clinton also raised several other critical issues with respect to the Stafford Act and its ability to deal with disasters, including:

• Ensuring the adequacy of grants and financial aid given to individuals and small businesses;

• The President’s ability to preposition assets and declare major disaster areas absent a request from a Governor;

• FEMA’s ability to manage large-scale disasters and getting assistance to individuals in need while avoiding unnecessary waste and asset mismanagement;

• Eliminating no-bid contracting and providing a mechanism for local individuals and companies to receive contracts from FEMA for clean-up and rebuilding before large companies are awarded contracts;

• Appropriate funding levels for mitigation for communities to minimize the impact of certain disasters such as flood map modernization, earthquake-proofing buildings, and other measures by coordinating with state and local officials;

• Coordination problems between state and local governments and FEMA’s existing capabilities, assets, and mission;

• Mass evacuation plans for New York City and Long Island in the event of a large-scale storm or catastrophic event and flooding issues;

• Flood plain map modernization for areas prone to flooding as a result of severe storms.

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