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Jon Stewart on Capitol Hill in Washington DC yesterday. PA Images

Emotional Jon Stewart attacks 'shameful' lawmakers for not turning up for 9/11 hearing

Representatives have argued that the bill is likely to pass anyway.

PBS NewsHour / YouTube

US COMEDIAN JON Stewart scolded Congress for failing to ensure that a victims’ compensation fund set up after the 9/11 attacks never runs out of money.

Stewart, a longtime advocate for 9/11 responders, angrily called out lawmakers for failing to attend a hearing on a bill to ensure the fund can pay benefits for the next 70 years.

Pointing to rows of empty seats at a House Judiciary Committee hearing room, the former Daily Show host said “sick and dying” first responders and their families came to Washington for the hearing, only to face a nearly deserted dais.

The sparse attendance by lawmakers was “an embarrassment to the country and a stain on this institution,” Stewart said, adding that the “disrespect” shown to first responders now suffering from respiratory ailments and other illnesses “is utterly unacceptable.”

Lawmakers from both parties said they support the bill and were monitoring the hearing amid other congressional business.

Representative Mike Johnson (Republican) predicted the bill will pass with overwhelming support and said lawmakers meant no disrespect as they moved in and out of the subcommittee hearing, a common occurrence on Capitol Hill.

Stewart was unconvinced.

Pointing to rows of uniformed firefighters and police officers behind him, he said the hearing “should be flipped,” so that first responders were on the dais, with members of Congress “down here” in witness chairs answering their questions.

First and foremost, Stewart said, families want to know, “Why this is so damn hard and takes so damn long?”

The collapse of the World Trade Center in September 2001 sent a cloud of thick dust billowing over Lower Manhattan. Fires burned for weeks.

Thousands of construction workers, police officers, firefighters and others spent time working in the soot, often without proper respiratory protection.

In the years since, many have seen their health decline, some with respiratory or digestive-system ailments that appeared almost immediately, others with illnesses that developed as they aged, including cancer.

More than 40,000 people have applied to the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, which covers illnesses potentially related to being at the World Trade Center site, the Pentagon or Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after the attacks.

More than $5 billion in benefits have been awarded out of the $7.4 billion fund, with about 21,000 claims pending.

9/11 Victims Fund Hearing Jon Stewart on Capitol Hill in Washington DC yesterday. PA Images PA Images

Stewart and other speakers lamented the fact that nearly 18 years after the attacks, first responders and their families still have no assurance the fund will not run out of money.

The Justice Department said in February that the fund is being depleted and that benefit payments are being cut by up to 70%.

“The plain fact is that we are expending the available funds more quickly than assumed, and there are many more claims than anticipated,” said Rupa Bhattacharyya, the fund’s special master. A total of 835 awards have been reduced as of 31 May, she said.

Stewart called that shameful.

“Your indifference is costing these men and women their most valuable commodity: time,” he told lawmakers. “It’s one thing they’re running out of.”

Firefighters, police and other first responders “did their jobs with courage, grace, tenacity and humility,” Stewart added. “Eighteen years later, do yours.”

House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat whose district includes the World Trade Center site, said a 70% cut — or any cut — in compensation to victims of 9/11 “is simply intolerable, and Congress must not allow it.”

Just as Americans “stood together as a nation in the days following September 11, 2001, and just as we stood together in 2010 and 2015 to authorise and fund these vital programs, we must now join forces one more time to ensure that the heroes of 9/11 are not abandoned when they need us most,” Nadler said.

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    Mute Joe
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    Jun 12th 2019, 9:22 AM

    Integrity seems to be something lacking in politicians in every country.

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    Mute Tommy C
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    Jun 12th 2019, 10:39 AM

    @Joe: now there is a guy to put up against Trump

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    Mute Michael Heery
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    Jun 12th 2019, 10:40 AM

    @Joe: lawyers too involved in politics.

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    Mute Cal Mooney
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    Jun 12th 2019, 12:23 PM

    @Joe: I watched his whole speech yesterday. It really is an eye opener. Politicians in NATO always find money to fight wars, but genuinely treat the victims of those wars with contempt including their own civilians and injured soldiers.

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    Mute anthony o cathain
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    Jun 12th 2019, 6:18 PM

    @Tommy C: U SAID IT !!!!!

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    Mute Arch Angel
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    Jun 12th 2019, 9:36 AM

    I’m not very familiar with Jon Stewart, but I’d be happy to applaud him.

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    Mute Tom Ryan
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    Jun 12th 2019, 9:58 AM

    @Arch Angel: check him out on YouTube he is a great comedian he had a talk show but retired a few years back.

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    Mute Squiddley Diddley
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    Jun 12th 2019, 10:28 AM

    @Tom Ryan: A bit more than a talk show in fairness. Lots of witty political satire, sometimes more bite than proper politicians addressing an issue.

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    Mute Niall Hughes
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    Jun 12th 2019, 4:38 PM

    @Arch Angel: he’s very good in Big Daddy

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    Mute iohanx
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    Jun 16th 2019, 8:28 PM

    @Arch Angel: he put Comedy Central on the map.

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    Mute Boris Becker
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    Jun 12th 2019, 9:50 AM

    Powerful stuff…….the world needs more people like him

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    Mute Thomas Newell
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    Jun 12th 2019, 9:32 AM

    If this was a deal to sell billion dollar weapons to despot countries, well you could be sure like the gremlins we vote in the place would be packed, cos everyone would want a piece of that pie

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    Mute Willie Tierney
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    Jun 12th 2019, 9:51 AM

    Jon has been sorely missed from political commentary for the past 4 years. Imagine what a daily dose of Jon Stewart would have done to Dorito Mussolini.

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    Mute Toomasu Sumitsu
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    Jun 12th 2019, 2:09 PM

    @Willie Tierney: Yeah. He might actually attack Trump on substantive issues rather than just the daily whimsical nonsense we hear on the media everyday.

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    Mute Tom Ryan
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    Jun 12th 2019, 9:54 AM

    They have plenty of money to kill people in wars in foreign countries but no money to look after the sick first responders after 911 terrorist attack.

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    Mute Michael Heery
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    Jun 12th 2019, 10:41 AM

    @Tom Ryan: uSA DRPPPED 2 MILLION TONS OF BOMBS ON NEUTRAL CAMBODIA.

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    Mute Toomasu Sumitsu
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    Jun 12th 2019, 2:12 PM

    @Michael Heery: Yeah. Into a jungle full of NVA and Viet Cong on the Ho Chi Minh trail. Agent Orange was the true war crime. That and all the murder and rape of civilians.

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    Mute The Red Devil
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    Jun 12th 2019, 10:21 AM

    Jon Stewart for President

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    Mute Mick Lally
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    Jun 12th 2019, 10:49 AM

    @The Red Devil: there’s a reality star, and I use that term very, very loosely, no offense but a comedian is not the answer. Serious politicians, again I use the term very loosely, are needed to repair the damage done by this administration.

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    Mute tweetforjunk
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    Jun 12th 2019, 11:13 AM

    @Mick Lally: whats a serious politician?

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    Mute Young Angus
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    Jun 12th 2019, 11:38 AM

    @Mick Lally: what damage has this administration done?

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    Mute William Tallon
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    Jun 12th 2019, 12:13 PM

    @tweetforjunk: A serious politician? In most democratic countries it’s an elected person who takes responsibility for the difficult but necessary decisions they make for society that affect peoples lives, will probably get slated for doing so and be called into account at election time. That’s the job. Jon Stewart is a comedian, TV personality and actor which in some peoples eyes qualifies him to be a serious politician. That’s celebrity culture for you.

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    Mute Rob Cahill
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    Jun 12th 2019, 2:51 PM

    @Young Angus: Trade Tarriffs, Extra taxes on low earners while the rich get tax breaks, A president who cannot stop lying.. I’m sure there’s a lot more.

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    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
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    Jun 12th 2019, 4:44 PM

    @Young Angus: trade tariffs on China meaning American farmers needed to be subsidised heavily with money borrowed from……….. China

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    Mute JL Pagano
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    Jun 12th 2019, 10:50 AM

    As the article says, Stewart has been an advocate of the 9/11 first responders for years. He had them on his show one of the other times they were trying to get further funding and then a few years later he had them again only this time with some empty chairs as some had succumbed to their condition. In all likelihood the funding will be granted but he is absolutely right that it’s disgraceful that they must jump through hoops to get Congress to act each time, especially when so many of the same politicians actively campaign on supposed appreciation for their service.

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    Mute Bootz Tully
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    Jun 12th 2019, 10:39 AM

    Wow fantastic words from Jon Stewart. Hopefully they’ll act on them.

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    Mute Arya
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    Jun 12th 2019, 9:12 AM

    America the Great.

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    Mute Benny Dowling
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    Jun 12th 2019, 9:22 AM

    @Arya: the great what?

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    Mute Arya
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    Jun 12th 2019, 9:25 AM

    @Benny Dowling: I have no idea…but that’s the claim.

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    Mute Ian Phillip Creaner
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    Jun 12th 2019, 9:39 AM

    @Benny Dowling: The Great divide….poor and rich.

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    Mute Charliegrl80
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    Jun 12th 2019, 11:08 AM

    @Arya: This is the meaning behind America the Great!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDv_HAc1IcE

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    Mute Toomasu Sumitsu
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    Jun 12th 2019, 2:05 PM

    Man I miss Jon Stewart. Absolute legend and a true voice of reason.

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    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
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    Jun 12th 2019, 4:55 PM

    Not mentioned in the article is the fact that the NYPD response time on 9/11 was 5 seconds. 5 seconds. They threw themselves into what other people were literally in some cases throwing themselves out of in desperation. 5 seconds, and 18 years later they’re sick and dying because of it and the politicians are still dragging their heals. Each and every one of them posting #NeverForget each year and doing absolutely nothing for those that lifted the nations spirits with their courage on one of it’s darkest days.

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    Mute Brian Mardle
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    Jun 12th 2019, 9:51 AM

    This is how low US politicans have sunk because 100% of the Republicans and 80% of Democrats are bought off with money. Greatest nation in the world!!! Only a deluded idiot believes that at this stage.

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    Mute andyearley
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    Jun 12th 2019, 11:34 AM

    @Brian Mardle: who are the 20% I’ll think you’d be surprised to see they’re all bent

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    Mute Brian Mardle
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    Jun 12th 2019, 11:47 AM

    @andyearley: Progressive Democrats don’t take doner money. And there’s a few more Democrats that don’t.

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    Mute Will
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    Jun 12th 2019, 2:20 PM

    @Brian Mardle: Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is the poster girl for progressive Democrats in the USA and her campaign raised over $2 million in donations.
    There have also been questions asked about how the money was used and who benefitted.
    The fact is, all American politicians accept donations, how else are they supposed to run their campaigns?

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    Mute Rob Cahill
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    Jun 12th 2019, 2:53 PM

    @Brian Mardle: Of course they take Donor money they can’t exist without it. I think you mean they don’t take Lobbyist money which is really good too.

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    Mute Brian Mardle
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    Jun 12th 2019, 3:09 PM

    @Will: All small dollars. AOC isn’t beholden to anyone. Nothing over $250 taken in. And Bernie is the godfather of the Progressive movement.

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    Mute Brian Mardle
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    Jun 12th 2019, 3:12 PM

    @Rob Cahill: Progressives don’t take big donations. Lobbyists are just the people who hand over the money/donations or try to influence politicians without handing over any money. The middle person.

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    Mute Cat K.
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    Jun 12th 2019, 9:19 PM

    That was a phenomenal speech.

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    Mute John Cuffe
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    Jun 12th 2019, 11:13 AM

    Sue the Israelis. They were behind 9/11.

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    Mute William Tallon
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    Jun 12th 2019, 11:35 AM

    @John Cuffe: And you and your anti-semitic conspiracy theory buddies know this how?

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    Mute Cormac Ó Braonáin
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    Jun 12th 2019, 12:27 PM

    @William Tallon: ‘anti-semitic’? Eh!?

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    Mute William Tallon
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    Jun 12th 2019, 12:42 PM

    @Cormac Ó Braonáin: Ooohhh! You got me! Feel free to check it out but most conspiracy theories involving Israel have their origins in anti-semitism. Anti-semitic conspiracy theories are nothing new. Check out the ‘Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion’ for example. They’ve just been updated to include Israel. That’s not to say of course that legitimate criticism of the politics and policies of Israel make you anti-semitic. Bet you were hoping I wouldn’t say that as you had me pegged as a rabid supporter of everything Israel does. But hey, that’s probably just a conspiracy theory on my part…

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    Mute Cormac Ó Braonáin
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    Jun 12th 2019, 1:45 PM

    @William Tallon: they’ve got lumps of it ’round the back.

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    Mute P Mc G
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    Jun 12th 2019, 2:25 PM

    @William Tallon: ‘Fires burned for weeks’ That’ll be the thermite.

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    Mute Will
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    Jun 12th 2019, 2:56 PM

    @P Mc G: I’ve seen this ‘thermite’ claim before. Don’t suppose you have ever seen any actual evidence to support the claim?

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    Mute William Tallon
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    Jun 12th 2019, 3:40 PM

    @P Mc G: That’s a new one! ‘Explosive revelation – Spontaneously combusting insects brought down the Twin Towers…’

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    Mute William Tallon
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    Jun 12th 2019, 3:41 PM

    @Cormac Ó Braonáin: Deep…

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    Mute P Mc G
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    Jun 13th 2019, 2:03 PM
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