Advocates for 9/11 first responders are challenging the Trump administration to stabilize the embattled World Trade Center Health Program, warning bureaucratic dysfunction could have deadly consequences.
The plea came as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to testify before a Senate committee on Wednesday, with survivors and advocates calling on the secretary of Health and Human Services to defend the life-saving program.
At the heart of the crisis, they said, is a cascade of funding shortfalls and administrative chaos that has left cancer patients in limbo and new enrollees shut out.
Meanwhile experienced doctors were fired — then reinstated — in a series of reversals led by the White House and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
The turmoil has violated the trust of hundreds of thousands of 9/11 survivors, advocates said.
The program provides medical treatment and research for more than 142,000 responders and survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks across all 50 states.
“This program was saving lives,” said Michael Barasch, an attorney who represents scores of 9/11 responders and survivors, including the family of the late Detective James Zadroga, after whom the landmark Zadroga Act was named.
In February, roughly 20% of the health program’s staff were let go, triggering service delays that have since worsened, organizers said. Just last Friday, 16 more staffers, including experienced doctors, were abruptly fired—only to be reportedly reinstated days later.
But advocates said these moves have done little to rebuild confidence.
The turmoil comes amid wider efforts by the Trump administration to slash federal workforce spending.
“We don’t know what’s going on,” Barasch said. “We’re not getting any straight answers at all. [program director Dr. John] Howard may have been reinstated, but it doesn’t mean anything unless it’s permanent and written.”
“Already before these cuts, the health program was short-staffed,” Barasch said.
NIOSH, the federal agency overseeing the program, now recognizes 69 cancers linked to 9/11 exposure. Yet in April, for the first time in the program’s history, no new members were enrolled, according to organizers.
For those already in the system, delays have become the norm. “It used to take four months to get an appointment,” Barasch said. “Now it’s going to take eight. And in the world of cancer treatment, time matters.”
Barasch and retired FDNY Chief Richard Alles, a cancer survivor, 9/11 first responder, and prominent voice for the program, will join others in Washington, DC this week, to call on RFK Jr. and the Trump administration to take permanent action to restore the health program’s funding and staffing.
Alles, who credits the program with detecting his prostate cancer early, warned that the fallout goes beyond bureaucracy.
“My phone rings off the hook with people terrified they’re going to lose their care. Most responders have PTSD, and all of these people who are dealing with cancer. It’s a stressor for these people,” Alles said.
Advocates say the program’s collapse is due in large part to a budgeting formula tied to the Consumer Price Index, which hasn’t kept pace with rising healthcare costs.
Two bills — H.R. 1410 and S.739 — are under consideration in Congress to seek an additional $3 billion to keep the program running.
Alles referred to the day President Trump signed a bill in 2019 to permanently fund the Victim Compensation Fund until 2090, the “highlight of my professional career.”
“It was a drop the mic moment…. And now to be back to fight to save the World Trade Center health program, which was always the most important. To witness its collapse without fighting to save it. I couldn’t do it. So I’m brought back into a fight that I thought was over.
“I know there’s a myriad of issues going on everywhere, but nothing is more important than this issue for our country because it’s, you know, ‘never forget’, but we’re starting to feel forgotten.”
Advocates worry the health of 9/11 heroes is being sidelined, despite the “bipartisan” nature of the program.
“That toxic dust didn’t care if you were a Democrat or a Republican,” Barasch said and added a plea. “Don’t touch this program. Don’t turn your back on the people who ran into those buildings. Fix this. Now.”
