Pols take bow after securing Zadroga funds

After Passage of 9/11 Health Bill, NY Lawmakers Take Victory Lap
New York's senators, members of Congress, mayor and speaker of the State Assembly gathered at Ground Zero today to crow about passage of the Zadroga Bill. "Today is a victory lap," said Senator Chuck Schumer. "But unlike a victory lap when you run a race, when you just feel good, this one matters. This victory lap saves lives. There are people today who feel a whole lot better than they did two days ago, knowing that they will get the medical care that they need, knowing that their heroism is ...

Supporters mark 9/11 health bill passage with World Trade Center ceremony
A large group of elected officials, advocates and union leaders gathered at the World Trade Center site late this afternoon to celebrate passage of the James Zadroga Health and Compensation Act. After 22 hearings, dozens of Press Conferences and marathon negotiating sessions, a Compromise was finally reached yesterday to pass the bill, that only days ago appeared dead.  Once signed into law, the Legislation would reopen the September 11 Victim’s compensation fund to provide compensati...

Officials Rejoice In Passing Of 9/11 Health Bill
NEW YORK (WCBS 880/1010 WINS) - It was a dramatic day long awaited at Ground Zero as police officers, Firefighters, First Responders and other emergency officials joined with politicians to celebrate the passing of the James Zagroda Bill, also known as the 9/11 health bill. Officials gathered Thursday afternoon to echo their support for the bill that will provide Financial Aid to First Responders from 9/11 who are suffering my medical illnesses that resulted from breathing in toxic materia...

Congress OK’s $4.2b to aid 9/11 responders
WASHINGTON — After a last-minute Compromise, Congress passed Legislation yesterday to provide up to $4.2 billion in new aid to survivors of the September 2001 Terrorism attack on the World Trade Center and responders who became ill working in its ruins. The House passed the bill on a 206 to 60 vote yesterday about two hours after the Senate cleared it on a voice vote as lawmakers raced to wrap up their work before Christmas. President Obama has said he is eager to sign the measure, though...

Ground zero workers celebrate political victory
From left, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Deputy Chief Richard Alles, and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., raise take part in a news conference, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010, after Senate passage of a bill to assist 9/11 First Responders. The politicians who wrangled a last-minute compromise to provide billions of dollars in aid to 9/11 survivors and responders have gathered at the World Trade Center site to declare victory, even while others say the bill didn't go far...

Ground zero workers celebrate political victory (AP)
NEW YORK – The politicians who wrangled a last-minute Compromise bill giving 9/11 survivors and responders with five more years of Health Care and billions of dollars in compensation gathered at the World Trade Center site Thursday to declare a patriotic victory, though others disagree over whether the bill goes far enough. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer joined other New York politicians and some Ground Zero workers beneath the rising construction at the site to celebrate t...

Tom Coburn Was Right
Tom Coburn (D-Okla.) was right to insist on greater financial accountability and Fraud prevention in the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act (history of text changes here). The Zadroga Act had all the hallmarks of the type of Government Spending which, without vigilance, gave rise to massive Fraud in Hurricane Katrina relief. Take a worthy cause and pick a number out of a hat, and what you get is a rip-off of the Taxpayers, which is what happened on a huge scale in the aftermath of K...

Controversial imam to tour nation
NEW YORK — The Muslim cleric who hopes to build an Islamic center in New York City near the World Trade Center site is planning to tour the nation to promote the project. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf will first speak in Detroit on Jan. 15. The city has North America's largest Muslim population. Continue Reading Text Size - + reset Politico 44 Zaheer Uddin, head of New York's Islamic Leadership Council, told The Associated Press on Friday that he thinks it's a good idea for Rauf to address m...

Imam behind NY Islamic center will tour nation
The Muslim cleric who hopes to build an Islamic center in New York City near the World Trade Center site is planning to tour the nation to promote the project. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf will first speak in Detroit on Jan. 15. The city has North America's largest Muslim population. Zaheer Uddin (zah-HEED' ooh-DEEN'), head of New York's Islamic Leadership Council, told The Associated Press on Friday that he thinks it's a good idea for Rauf to address misunderstandings between Muslims and others. New ...

Left-right agreement on health-care reform?
Last night, Amanda Carpenter, an aide to Sen. Jim DeMint, tweeted a link to this New York Times story and said, "90,000 doctor shortage predicted by 2020. Only 18,600 new docs matriculate per year. Let's welcome docs, not block 'em." Co-signed! One of the big reasons that Health Care is so expensive in this country is that doctors make so much money. And one of the reasons that doctors make so much money is that the supply of doctors is artificially constrained. The profession sharply limits the...

Obama, facing resurgent Republicans, reaches for Reagan bio
President Barack Obama, facing a divided Congress when he returns to Washington from Vacation in early January, has invoked Republican hero Ronald Reagan during his own presidency to muster Bipartisan support. Perhaps he thought he could pick up some tips on how to deal with the other party, who take control of the U.S. House of Representatives next month. Democrat Obama is now reading a biography of the former Republican president during his Christmas stay with the first family in Hawaii. White...

9/11 Deal is Struck (Updated)
The deal to pass athe 9/11 health bill is done, the Daily News has learned. Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand met with other senators' staff and staff from Rep. Carolyn Maloney's offce until well after midnight, cutting a new deal and trimming the package to care for 9/11 responders to $4.3 billion, sources close to the deal said. They reached final agreement at about 11:30 this morning after the New York Democrats met for an hour with the prime GOP opponents, Sens. Mike Enzi of...

House Will Stay to Pass 9/11 Bill (Updated)
The House will stay in session tomorrow to pass the 9/11 health bill, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) declared this afternoon, removing one more potential obstacle to passing the measure that woudl help ailing First Responders. “My expectation is there is a high likelihood of a vote on 9/11 sometime tomorrow," Hoyer said of the ongoing effort in the Senate to pass the $6.2 billion James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. "As a result, I would be asking all of you to st...

Dems: One Big Happy Family -- Addams Family (update)
It wasn't exactly a Democratic lovefest when President Obama signed his nearly $900 billion Tax Cut and jobless benefits bill at the White House this afternoon, adding to the $13.7 Trillion federal Deficit. The Democratic leaders were invited, but had Scheduling Conflicts, aides said. Illinois pal, Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, was the highest-ranking member of Congress to attend the event. Also missing from the event was the entire New York City Democratic congressiona...

The Outlook for the 9/11 Bill
The outlook for the 9/11 health bill is good today -- at least for its first test vote perhaps as soon as late morning, Senate insiders say. After that, it's anyone's guess. Or, more accurately, Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-Okla.) Coburn is still threatening to string the measure out, and that could take 60 hours, which leaves final passage on Christmas Day. Coburn is notoriously stubborn, and even though his party is already complaining about working so close to the holiday -- and many, man...

Bethlehem shops ban crosses over Muslim fears
What sad news. Bethlehem shops are selling T-shirts depicting the Church of the Nativity without the cross due to growth of Islamic Fundamentalism in the area. You must login to comment. The Fox Nation is for those opposed to intolerance, excessive government control of our lives, and attempts to monopolize opinion or suppress freedom of thought, expression, and worship. Read more... We invite all Americans who share these values to join us here at Fox Nation. U.S. President Barack Obama waves u...

Rasmussen: A Year-End Look at the Tea Party
The Tea Party movement was one of the biggest political stories during the 2010 election season. From an electoral standpoint, the Grassroots movement had it first impact by forcing long-time Senator Arlen Specter out of the Republican Party (and eventually out of the U.S. Senate). By the end of the season, several Tea Party Candidates such as Florida's Marco Rubio and Kentucky's Rand Paul were elected to the U.S. Senate. You must login to comment. The Fox Nation is for those opposed to intolera...

Rauf's Road Trip for Idiots
The NY Times is quivering at the prospect of a radical Rauf tour to Harvard! Yale! and across this great nation to sell his taqiyya and Propaganda to an American public that he contemptuously looks down upon as idiots. And the American People don't think much of this slumlord either. But the media, political and academic elites can't polish his knob to a high enough shine. Shocking. They are without a shred of decency, Morality, or goodness wouldn't be so tragoc but they are drivin...

Obama's agenda calls for quiet Christmas
President Barack Obama travels in a Motorcade through the neighborhood where he is spending his holiday Vacation in Kailua, Hawaii, Friday, Dec. 24, 2010. President Barack Obama's Christmas wish may simply be to have a quieter holiday than last year. Obama was with his family in the same oceanfront neighborhood on the island of Oahu last December, when a 23-year-old Nigerian man allegedly attempted to blow up a plane bound for Detroit. The incident raised questions about the nation's terror rea...

Obama's agenda calls for quiet Christmas (AP)
Honolulu – President Barack Obama's Christmas wish may simply be to have a quieter holiday than last year. Obama was with his family in the same oceanfront neighborhood on the island of Oahu last December, when a 23-year-old Nigerian man allegedly attempted to blow up a plane bound for Detroit. The incident raised questions about the nation's terror readiness and consumed the rest of Obama's Vacation. This year's presidential holiday is off to a far more low-key start, and the White Hous...

Obamas agenda calls for quiet Christmas
HONOLULU (AP) — President Barack Obama’s Christmas wish may simply be to have a quieter holiday than last year. Obama was with his family in the same oceanfront neighborhood on the island of Oahu last December, when a 23-year-old Nigerian man allegedly attempted to blow up a plane bound for Detroit. The incident raised questions about the nation’s terror readiness and consumed the rest of Obama’s Vacation. This year’s presidential holiday is off to a far more low-ke...

New Congress may open with reading of Constitution
When newly-elected Representative Raul Labrador takes his seat at the House of Representatives next year, he - along will all the other members of the House - may be treated to a reading of the Constitution of the United States. Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times reports the House will get a full reading of the document on January 6 if the new rules proposed this week are adopted. Robert Goodlatte, the Republican from Virginia who proposed the rule said, "It stems from the debate that we've h...

Congress passes $4.2 billion package for 9/11 victims, responders
WASHINGTON (AP) — After a last-minute Compromise, Congress passed Legislation Wednesday to provide up to $4.2 billion in new aid to survivors of the September 2001 Terrorism attack on the World Trade Center and responders who became ill working in its ruins. The House passed the bill on a 206-60 vote Wednesday about two hours after the Senate cleared it on a voice vote as lawmakers raced to wrap up their work before Christmas. President Barack Obama has said he is eager to sign the measur...

9/11 responders' $4.2B aid package called miracle (AP)
NEW YORK – It was called a "Christmas miracle," but a last-minute Compromise by Congress will provide a smaller Aid Package than originally envisioned to help Victims of the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center and the responders sickened as they worked in its smoldering ruins. The measure passed by Congress and sent to President Barack Obama on Wednesday would provide up to $4.2 billion in new aid to survivors and responders, $2 million less than originally proposed. Obama said he ...

Tom Coburn Was Right
Tom Coburn (D-Okla.) was right to insist on greater financial accountability and Fraud prevention in the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act (history of text changes here). The Zadroga Act had all the hallmarks of the type of Government Spending which, without vigilance, gave rise to massive Fraud in Hurricane Katrina relief. Take a worthy cause and pick a number out of a hat, and what you get is a rip-off of the Taxpayers, which is what happened on a huge scale in the aftermath of K...