U.S. House of Representatives members advocated for a bill introduced in May to guarantee that victims and family members of 9/11 and other state-sponsored terror attacks receive compensation.
Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) and Dan Goldman, (D-N.Y.) co-sponsored the bill. The first three supported their legislation at an event on Tuesday afternoon in the House Triangle outside the U.S. Capitol.
“During this time, I think of the wreckage that 9/11 has left behind,” Gottheimer said. “All the children that grew up without their parents, robbed of their childhood memories, the medical bills that have piled for victims and their families as they work to recover and move forward.”
He called it a shame that the group had to be there to fight for 9/11 victims, saying that “this isn’t a partisan issue as you can see. It’s a bipartisan issue, it’s an American issue, it’s a human issue.”
Reflecting on the first responders and construction workers who spent time at the World Trade Center site and later died from illnesses related to it, Lawler stated that “we are still dealing with the consequences.”
He described that as a New York representative, he regarded 9/11 as “very personal” and that the American Victims of Terror Compensation Act “would make sure that we fulfill our commitment to the families and victims of 9/11 and other terrorist attacks.”
