9/11 First Responders React to 2010 Zadroga Bill Filibuster

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Come to that daily show, minor dunk store. This is Earth, Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, the last show of the year. In contrary to what it might seem, I have never felt more full of it. Huh. Before we go, I want to talk one last time about something called the Zadroga Bill. Was an NYPD detective who died in two thousand and six from respiratory illness thought to be caused by the dusty, and healed while working

Just do it. The House passed it.

Sorry, the House Representatives passed it, and it would pass in the Senate. That came to anupor down vote. They have more than the fifty votes they need, but the center Republicans have filibustered it won't allow the bill to come up for a vote. Luckily, yesterday there was some good news from the Senate. Logjam broke today.

The Senate passed that bill to extend tax cuts to all Americans, including the wealthiest, by an overwhelming eighty one to nineteen vote yes.

That is astoundingly good news for firefighters that make over two hundred thousand dollars a year. Of course, all non millionaire firefighters are still out of luck. Apparently the party that turned nine to eleven into a catchphrase are now moving suspiciously into a convenient pre nine eleven mentality when it comes to this.

Well.

What's more, none of the three broadcast networks have mentioned any of this on their evening newscasts for two and a half months. Although it'll be fair, it's not every day that Beatles songs come to iTunes music for sale on the internet.

This is gonna be.

This is an outrageous abdication of our responsibility to those who are most heroic on nine to eleven. You know what I hate to say this. There's a job for Fox News, the nation's leading source of nine to eleven based outrage. They always fight to make sure that nine to eleven is appropriately observed.

Build the president take any political criticism for not coming to ground zero on this nine to eleven.

Fox News channel has looked at an advanced copy of her speech and has noticed that not once will she use the words tears or nine to eleven.

Those dots, that's where remains were found, and when the zierro go right to where the mosque would came.

When I watched the second plane fly into the building, I was there.

I had a safety deposit box in a Chase bank. Underneath you can still see the outline of dollars.

Do you want to know why I have passion for this thing?

This is why. Yeah, we lost a lot of good cash that day. So you can imagine, you can imagine how outraged Fox must be to find out that the healthcare for those who risk their lives to recover that charred money is being held up by a Republican filibuster. And I know they have access to nine eleven.

First responders joining me now.

A leading opponent of the mosque and a former New York City firefighter and nine eleven responder, Tim Brown here is one of the nine to eleven first responders reacting to the decision by the Landmark Commission.

A nine to eleven responders taking matters into his own hands by suing the developers for three hundred and fifty million million dollars.

Yet somehow they've been unable to find even one nine to eleven first responder to speak about there's a drogo bill. In fact, only Fox as Peter Johnson Junior, seemed perturbed by it at all, and although he railed against the filibuster, he never mentioned that it was the Republicans holding up the bill. Oh what party was it? Maybe it was the Bull Moost party or the Greens or the Wigs or Boo. Yet there was one network that gave the nine to eleven responder story the full twenty two minutes

We need to get the issue addressed for the firefighters, the nine to one to one victims, and we will the difference, I think with a tax bill is there is a deadline January first. We have to get this done. Taxes go up on January first.

Yes, there are only two short things in life, death and taxes. Apparently the only one this cat cares about is taxes. When we come back, we speak with some nine to eleven first responders and they'll respond to what we've just seen. We'll be right back.

I'll love the show.

We'll talk a little bit about talk a little bit about some of the emotions going on now in the Senate. We're joined by four men who can perhaps best sympathize with what the Senate is going through. Please welcome Kenny Speck from the FDNY, Chris Bauman, n YPD, Ken George dot and John Devlin, operating engineer. Have you equipment all nine to eleven first responders?

Uh?

Gentlemen, you're all nine to eleven first responders.

Uh.

You were down there from the moment of the attacks for the most part. Now you see the the senators filibustering the bill. What's what's going through your mind as you're watching this process go down.

We're we're disgusted, we're disappointed, and uh and unfortunately we're hurt.

We uh.

We uh. We are proud protectors of the Constitution for the people, by the people, and uh and we want to know where it was lost.

We're we're patriots to this country. It's like everybody here, we went down there for the love of this country and for the love of our city. We didn't turn our back on anybody. For us to be here now nine years later, still fighting just for for our health, for our compensation.

You are suffering from stage four broken.

Stage four inopperable foe cancer on both and on both limp nodes.

And you're suffering from I got hot disease and lung disease from being down being down.

There, hot long.

Brain issues, cancer and these are all from being down. You know, none of the Republican senators went on the floor of the Senate to talk about why they were going to filibuster the bill. But Senator Mitch McConnell a couple of days ago did actually get on the floor of the Senate and made I thought, a really emotional speech and I wanted you guys to to listen to it and maybe get your reactions to the.

Judd grew up in Nashua in southern New Hampshire, was it he found time to address up as the school's mascot for a time. In nineteen ninety two, Judd decided to run for the US Senate on She's been instrumental. When he walks out of his chamber for the last time, he'll leave an enormous voyd.

The Senator bench. McConnell on the floor of the Senate. He's talking about Senator Judd Gregg, who's retiring from the Senator.

Yeah, he's shedding a tear on his lunch buddy that he hangs out with every day. Where is his where is his human feeling for not only the four of us. We represent the brothers and sisters with that we're down there. This isn't a me me to any one of us. This is about the brothers and sisters that can't come out and speak like we can. It's sad to see someone like him, to.

Be fair, they have worked together for like six years.

Oh yeah, he's trying to cause another guy pays the ten That's what.

Really, that's the thing that the lunch that the guy guy pays lunch.

Bill Now watching that, there's only one thing I can say. I found time to dress the new York City fireman on September eleventh.

Is not incredible.

It is incredible. You were able to do that, You were able to pull that off.

I tell you, I, Nic, I feel bad for Mitch McConnell I. You know, he said something very important that his friend. He's gonna watch his friend walk out of the uh, the Senate chambers. And unfortunately that's more than a New York City firefighter can say. About about three hundred and forty three of his brothers, who can't walk anymore.

Has been to eleven funeral yeast is this is it's a straining thing.

Now, let's digress.

I do think there's misperceptions out there that that you guys, somehow, because you're part of unions, you're already covered for all this stuff. But explain the way I've I've heard of this. So you guys go down to nine to eleven. You're there basically from the day they attack, straight through digging people out. I mean, going through horrific things that many of us cannot ever.

Ten months, seven days, seven days is a day we were down there breathing in all that time, what like a thousand toxic cities.

So you're going through all this. When you get sick, they consider it workmen's comp. You can't work anymore, so your health insurance suddenly is cut and the workmen's comp people fight you it's related because they say, well, how can we decide that your cancers are work related.

I can only speak for myself. When I was I died twice last year fighting this cancer. Well, I'm fighting for the cancer. I was fighting for the compensation that would cover my bills. Right, It's ridiculous.

Howcome NYPD doesn't you know, does NYPD cover all of your stuff now or how does that work or not?

They put me out on three quarters. I got a phone call one day and it comes to term that they told my wife they will put me out because I was questing the NYPD too much. I was quote nquote still on to draw.

It's also about it's become an enormous not just a helper, but a financial bird, is exactly.

They don't care.

We have coverage, but Kope's run me a couple of hundred dollars a month. If I get really sick.

I've had one of the guys that's fighting me. The guys died just this week or last week.

Face cancer. I mean, you know, it's uh, he had a prosthetic nose, his nose, his nose fell off his face.

Now died of just this cancer.

Then you can't tell a reasonable person that when your nose falls off your face that you have not died from something absolutely horrific. That that that people are just not familiar with.

The Part of the problem is they say, Okay, you got cancer. Why is it due to nine to eleven other people get cancer? But the mast majority of us are having heart problems, having cancer, and forgetting sick.

A lot of the things are saying is hey, man, it's Christmas and we can I want you to listen to this. They're saying that they don't have time to get to this. This is John Kyle talking about Harry Reid wants them to stay and work that week between christ in New Year's.

It is impossible to do all of the things that the Majority leader laid out without doing frankly, without disrespecting the institution, and without disrespecting one of the two holiest of holidays for Christians and the families of all of the Senate, not just the senators themselves, but all of the staff.

It's basically what he's saying is I can't stay here and work between Christmas and New Year's That would be disrespecting Christians and his family. Do you have any thoughts on that?

It just goes to show the disconnect between those we elect to represent us and those that get out there and do the work. Because I'm here to say that you won't find a single New York City firefighter who considers it assign of disrespect to work in the New York City fire House on Christmas Evil Christmas Day?

How did the city were?

The Fight Apartment and the Police Apartment didn't show up for that time.

I represent the union tradesmen in this city, and it was an honor to work through Christmas on that nine to eleven to give that closure to those people that were on the other side of that gate every morning showing us the pictures of their loved ones. I don't think there's anything better than to go out there and help other people.

What would the.

Families think of us if we didn't do our job for them.

On nine to eleven when you heard that the towers got hit and you were with your colleagues and the NYPD and the Fire Department, when you guys voted. Obviously, you needed a super majority to vote to go down there, right, I mean vote, Yeah, you need a supermajority. So we barely made it one vote. Were you able to get? Were there people on one vote we got?

Did you have to.

Promise things to the other firefighters or the other policemen, like just vote with us on this to go down to the towers to save people, and will do. We'll have chili on Friday night. Don't help.

We're the unfortunate nob retired that day. Otherwise we would have been crying about their retiring and leaving.

But it would have been it would have been a very difficult day for you, guys. Gentlemen, I cannot thank you enough. All I can do is I feel like apologizing to all of you. And I'm not even sure why. It's an absolute travesty. I appreciate your service. Uh and uh. And I'm really hoping that this is a good Christmas for you guys, because you certainly deserve it more than anybody.

Thank you, Thank you.

We'll be right back.

Quarterback I got tonight.

Former governor of Arkansas and former Republican presidential candidate has show on the Fox News channels called Huckabee, and his new children's book is called I Can't Wait Till Christmas, which I think is probably a sentiment felt by many people. Please welcome back to the program, Mike Huckabee.

John.

Malady of the met here. I'm glad to be here.

You know it's it's called I Can't Wait Till Christmas. You're you're a man of faith, a religious man, a Christian man. You are very familiar with the Christmas holiday and the ramifications of it. Are you not allowed to work between Christmas and New Year's?

Is that no?

I think In fact, it's sort of like the heavy duty season for most Christians. They work a little harder. So it really does not, I think, bother me. If the Senate and the House were to work a little extra, it make up for all the times they're not working, which is the rest of the year.

I said Ramson.

So it may not be disrespectful necessarily to pass this. What do you make of this? You know? I feel like I hate when I get like this, so angry inside that I feel like I cannot articulate, uh what I would like to express about it. This bill that that is leaving these these guys are dying, yeah, and yet we are abandoning them for a principle of a tax. Guy. I'm not I don't even know what to.

Do to me, John. I have a dear friend in Texas named Michael. I'll I'll not give his last name. He's dying. He came here three days after nine to eleven. He's a first responder as a paramedic and worked with the field of first responders in Texas when nine to eleven happened. He basically said, my country's on fire, I'm going and he came here and spent almost a year as a volunteer. He's dying and he can't get any assistance. I think the tragedy is that this bill has not

The House has pasted it.

I understand.

No, No, it's past the House and it is just being held.

With this bill audi to segrated out.

It is separated out. There's a joker. Bill is not attached to anything, not attached to any other bill. It is a separate bill. It should be two senators.

And they should do them. Every Republican should vote for this bill.

You you you work.

At Fox, Yes so and Fox?

You know has you know you played the tape from Peter Johnson, who has taken a strong stand he has. I don't know that you see that from an editorial position of the other You haven't.

At least there's been some others.

The thing that is difficult to watch is I see the nine to eleven outrage machine that Fox is able to generate when they want to. That mosque story boy that carried you know, people were hearing that for months and months. They haven't. They haven't gendered up for this, and they should. This is a situation that is real that the real people that helped us out in that situation are truly hurting. Why haven't they sent out that memo?

I will just defend. At least Fox has taken a position on it. Maybe we covered the mosque even more, but it does not mean I'm just saying to you you go tell that message to CBS and NBC and ABC and MSNBC and CNNMSNBC do some stuff take in some position.

Cable news has been better than The difficulty for me is comparing it to other nine to eleven related outrages that I've seen played out on the airwaves of Fox. This one feels like, man, it's in your wheelhouse. The silence has been astonishing in juxtaposition to other things that they've done.

Well another thing, John, It makes it a little more personal for me. And I was telling the gentleman backstage as we passed in the hallway. My father was a career fireman in Arkansas, so you know, I remember as a little kid him coming home and this was before the days of good equipment, him coughing up black stuff into the sink at our house. I mean, it sounds gross, but people do some pretty heroic things when they serve

Say, honestly to their discredit, they haven't. I mean, I've never seen anybody presented with a giant political win like that on a silver platter and look at it and go, I'm not going to have cake. I'll just sit over in the corner and eat Celery like.

The craziest thing.

I've only with you on that.

And I wish that Republicans would just say, we're going to do it, because if it needs to, there ought to be twenty five thirty five, forty five Republicans.

We're going to take a commercial break, We'll come can you stick around for a few more minutes, and we'll.

Get Yeah, because I can't.

Wait till Christmas is on the bookshelves now. Mike Cockabee.

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