9/11 health program cuts: RFK Jr. urged to reconsider, reverse decision
Anthony Gardner of Essex, NJ, was fired from his job at the World Trade Center Health Program as part of the DOGE government efficiency effort.
- New York members of Congress called on Trump to reverse the cuts to jobs and research funding.
- “My colleagues and I are eager to get back to work on Monday for our 9/11 heroes who we are so honored to serve,” said Anthony Gardner, one of the WTC Health Program staff whose job had been cut.
Staffing cuts at the World Trade Center Health Program were restored Friday, Feb. 21, after a bipartisan rally in support of the program that provides healthcare and monitoring for 9/11 responders and survivors sickened by toxic exposures in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Cuts announced last week by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency were restored Thursday and Friday – first research grants that impact 9/11 responders were restored and then late Friday, the jobs cut by DOGE were added back, according to an announcement by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
U.S. Health and Human Services, now overseen by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., oversees the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which houses the WTC program.
Democratic and Republican Congressional members pushed for the restoration of jobs, as did those who have long been involved in healthcare for the 9/11 community.
New Yorkers welcome full restoration
“I made sure that President Trump, DOGE, and Secretary Kennedy heard us loud and clear: do not mess with our first responders and the healthcare of 9/11 survivors,” U.S. Sen. and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday. “This lifesaving program should have never been on the chopping block in the first place and so it makes sense that the Trump administration has done a complete about-face and heeded our calls to reverse these devastating cuts and rehire the dedicated staff of the World Trade Center Health Program.”
“When we say ‘Never Forget’ that means never wavering in our commitment to take care of those who answered the call on 9/11.” Schumer added. “I will continue to watch this issue like a hawk.”
There are currently 130,000 WTC program members getting monitored, getting treatment, or both.
Anthony Gardner, one of the WTC Health Program staff who found his job had been restored on Friday said he was grateful to President Trump for fully rescinding the staff cuts and funding for important 9/11 research into health impacts.
“My colleagues and I are eager to get back to work on Monday for our 9/11 heroes who we are so honored to serve,” said Gardner, who lost a brother, Harvey Gardner, who was working in the north tower on Sept. 11, 2001.
Gardner had been notified via email on Saturday, Feb. 15, that he’d lost his job. While he had long worked in 9/11-related efforts, Gardner was considered a provisional employee subject to the DOGE cuts because he had recently changed status from a contract employee to staff.
U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler was one of four Republican Congress members from New York to write a letter imploring Trump to fully restore the WTC Health Program jobs and research funds.
“I am thrilled to hear that the Trump administration took our concerns seriously and immediately reserved proposed cuts to the World Trade Center Health Program,” Lawler told USA Today. “While we absolutely need to reduce spending, putting 9/11 victims, first responders and their families on the chopping block was wholly unacceptable.”
Calling the DOGE efforts “finding savings,” Lawler cautioned that future actions “must exercise more caution to avoid undue stress for our 9/11 heroes.” Many FDNY and NYPD members live in Lawler’s 17th District, which includes Rockland and Putnam counties and parts of Westchester and Dutchess.
What is the World Trade Center Health Program?
The World Trade Center Health Program provides health monitoring and treatment for 9/11-related health conditions.
Responders, including police, firefighters, clean-up workers and others who worked in rescue and recovery efforts around the World Trade Center site can qualify for the health program. So can those who lived, worked or went to school in Lower Manhattan during and in the months after the terrorist attacks. The program also supports people exposed at the Pentagon and Pennsylvania.
The health program was established as part of the 2011 James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act.
Getting Zadroga passed in 2011 took heavy lobbying; images of first responders, weakened by 9/11 illness, walking the halls of Congress pushed lawmakers to act.
The WTC program is mandated through 2090. But funding shortages are perpetual.
The cuts poured on more insult for some who remember how Trump and Musk blew up the omnibus budget plan back in December 2024; the original deal fixed perpetual funding problems for the WTC program, but that ended scrapped in the final deal.
