Ground Zero Workers Push For Health Help - Bloomberg Wants Plan Vetoed

[hatrack]

Construction worker Daniel Arrigo logged 15 hours a day for six months removing debris from Ground Zero. Now he takes four prescription drugs to open the constricted airways in his lungs. Wednesday, Arrigo gathered with ironworkers, EMTs and union officials at Ground Zero to plead with local and federal officials to do more for workers who got sick after 9/11. "I think more should be done for the construction workers," Arrigo said. "The construction workers and the ironworkers were the ones who got the World Trade Center site cleaned up. It wasn't cops and firemen."

Jon Sferazo, an ironworker who developed a lung condition after removing mangled wreckage from Ground Zero, said he was disappointed with President George W. Bush and Gov. George Pataki.

"We're not getting the help we were promised and so desperately need," said Sferazo, asking the governor to pass a bill that gives line-of-duty benefits to the families of workers who die of 9/11-related illnesses. He also chided Mayor Michael Bloomberg for asking the governor to veto the bill.

EDIT

The mayor asked the governor to veto the bill, saying it would be too expensive for the city. The mayor's office also said the bill would create an uneven burden, leaving the city to shoulder a disproportionate amount of the costs while letting the state off easy.

EDIT

http://www.amny.com/news/local/groundzero/am-wtcsick0810,0,5319051.story?coll=am-topheadlines

[aquart]

1. I don't give a damn how expensive it is. WE OWE THEM.

We're waiting for them to die before we decide to care for them?