Attorney General James Denounces Trump Administration’s Latest Cuts to World Trade Center Health Program

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today released the following statement after the Trump administration’s devastating cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) eliminated critical staff for the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP), which provides medical treatment for 9/11 survivors, first responders, and others affected by the attacks:

“When our country was attacked, thousands of New Yorkers put their lives on the line to save others, and they deserve the care that we’ve fought for over these last 24 years. The Trump administration’s decision to continuously jeopardize the World Trade Center Health Program is a cruel betrayal of our heroes. These cuts must be reversed, and the World Trade Center Health Program must be protected.”

Created in 2011, the WTCHP provides medical treatment for more than 132,000 people impacted by the attacks. In February, the Trump administration’s buyout offers for federal employees and mass firings of probationary civil service staff led to significant staffing cuts at federal health care programs, including WTCHP. While these cuts were temporarily reversed after Attorney General James and others spoke out, the administration’s recent decision to cut over 10,000 staff members from HHS has once again put WTCHP services in jeopardy. Included in those fired from HHS were Dr. John Howard, the WTCHP administrator, and nearly all staff at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, which oversees and provides essential support to WTCHP.