Jon Stewart Still Fighting For First Responders Health
There has never been a greater contrast of human spirit displayed than on 9/11. First, we were shocked, to put it mildly, with the pure evil that drove itself into the buildings of New York and D.C. Fortunately, this only filled up our hearts and souls, and what we saw next was the overwhelming outpouring of heroism and good will of the first responders and volunteers. We stood united, and everyone mourned and supported each other.
I’d like to believe that we would always keep that feeling of support, especially for those that rushed in at their own risk, many of which that did not come back out. Those that did, worked for days, weeks, months, and years to rebuild. It turns out that the danger of working in the conditions left behind was not safe, and they continued to put their lives in danger. Now that we know this, we should have just as much support for them today as we did back then, but the politicians in D.C. seem to have forgotten the best part of the human spirit of that infamous day. But that’s where Jon Stewart comes steps in.
He did it once before, he used his show to get attention and pass a Health and Compensation Act for first responders, but it is set to expire at the end of this month. Now, Jon Stewart is back on the Hill trying to make the bill a permanent 9/11 law. Currently, it only has about a third of Congress, but Jon plans on making sure everyone knows who doesn’t sign up. From Huffington Post:
“I’m not on television anymore, but I sure as hell know a lot of people who are. At a certain point, there are a lot of congressional doors that are closed because those individuals do not want to be shamed publicly. Well, guess what? If you don’t sign on to this type of thing, it has to be known. And the reasons for it have to be spoken out loud and in public.”
If you need a reminder of how screwed up our government can be, the last time this was held up, the Republican Senate filibustered the bill even though it had full support. It would have passed, they just didn’t want to put it up for a vote. We talked about the contrast of human spirit, from evil to the most heroic, I’m not sure what pitiful display the Senate was trying to attempt at that time, but here’s a bit of a reminder:
