Sept. 11 responders press Congress not to withdraw $125 million

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http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/nyc-uswtc0617,0,5447832.story?coll=ny-leadnationalnews-headlines

Sept. 11 responders press Congress not to withdraw $125 million

BY INDIA AUTRY
STAFF WRITER

June 17, 2005


WASHINGTON -- For more than a month, Jon Sferazo, a structural ironworker, sifted through piles of smoldering iron at Ground Zero in search of Sept. 11 survivors.

"We were there without questioning," he said at a news conference Thursday, gasping because of a loss of breathing capacity. "In my mind I kept thinking if it was me or one of my loved ones, I would want everything that could possibly be done to get them out."

Now Sferazo, of Huntington Station, needs help with medical bills, but Congress plans to withdraw $125 million in unspent workers compensation funds allotted to New York State.

"Abandoning wounded responders now is no different than leaving behind the wounded in combat," he said.
"President Bush, remember we were already victims of September 11th once," Bethea said. "Please don't make us victims twice."

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