Trump Signs Bill Keeping 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund Alive

NEW YORK — They won't be forgotten. President Donald Trump signed legislation Monday to preserve a fund for 9/11 first-responders after a blistering push by advocates and New York lawmakers.

The Republican president put the bill on the books fewer than 18 months before the cash-strapped 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund benefitting survivors of the 2001 terrorist attacks was slated to expire.

The law will allow first-responders to file claims to the fund until October 2090, essentially guaranteeing that survivors will be covered for the rest of their lives. It's expected to cost the federal government nearly $10.2 billion in its first 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

"Today we come together as one nation to support our September 11th heroes, to care for their families and to renew our eternal vow: Never, ever forget," Trump said during a Monday morning ceremony in the White House Rose Garden.

The bill was formally named the "Never Forget the Heroes: James Zadroga, Ray Pfeifer, and Luis Alvarez Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act" in honor of two former NYPD cops and an ex-FDNY firefighter who died of diseases linked to their time at Ground Zero.

The three terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 killed nearly 3,000 people, but thousands more have become sickened or died from illnesses they contracted from exposure to toxic substances at the World Trade Center site, officials say. Trump said more than 2,000 people have died from such illnesses since the attacks.

"We have already lost too many 9/11 heroes, and sadly, many more will become sick and die in the years to come," New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat and one of the bill's lead sponsors, said in a statement. "But now, because this bill is finally the law of the land, our 9/11 first responders, survivors, and their families can finally have some peace of mind as they continue to fight through their illnesses linked to the 9/11 attacks."

First-responders and advocates forcefully lobbied Congress to pass the bill as a cash shortfall forced the fund to slash payments to its beneficiaries as much as 70 percent. The fund was previously scheduled to expire in December 2020.

The House of Representatives was first to pass Manhattan Rep. Carolyn Maloney's bill after the comedian Jon Stewart, one of the first-responders' most dedicated allies, excoriated lawmakers for their inaction.

The Senate followed last week despite opposition from two Republican senators including Kentucky's Rand Paul, who drew scorn from members of his own party in New York City.

Trump praised the FDNY and NYPD personnel who helped rescue people from the rubble as "selfless patriots of unmatched character and devotion." But he also repeated his dubious claim that he helped at Ground Zero in the wake of the attacks.

"I was down there also, but I’m not considering myself a first-responder," Trump told a crowd Monday that included more than 60 first-responders. "But I was down there. I spent a lot of time down there with you."

While Trump did visit Lower Manhattan after 9/11, he has offered no evidence that he or his employees put in work at the site of the disaster, according to the fact-checking website Snopes.