The state's two senators and 14 House members met with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius just hours before President Obama implored in his speech to the nation for Congress to come together and deliver a government that delivers on its promises to the American people.
So the legislators were floored to learn the Democratic administration does not want to deliver for the tens of thousands of people who sacrificed after 9/11, and the untold numbers now getting sick.
"I was stunned — and very disappointed," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who like most of the other legislators had expected more of a discussion on how to more forward.
"To say the least, I was flabbergasted," said Staten Island Rep. Mike McMahon.
The 9/11 bill would spend about $11 billion over 30 years to care for the growing numbers of people getting sick from their service at Ground Zero, and to compensate families for their losses.
The bill is only $11B over 30 years. That is only about $367M per year. Yes, that is still a lot of money, but is a far cry that Obama wants to spend on Obamacare. The health bills will be over $1T over a much shorter amount of time. It's more than likely that Obamacare will cost over $11B per year, instead of over the course of thirty.
Normally, I don't think that the government should be paying for people's health care, but this is for the victims from a terrorist attack and an act of war. The circumstances are much different.
Why would Obama do this? This could only hurt him politically with everyone not just one side or the other. I know that his proposal of a spending freeze shows that he is trying to pivot and position himself as more of a deficit hawk and not a free-spender, but this is the wrong thing to cut. This will be a PR nightmare for him, if it ever gets into the consciousness of Americans. Of course, the mainstream media seems to be ignoring this story, but it may be too big to hide. If it does, he'll regret it.
