Funding Iraq or health benefits for 9/11 responders?

in an interview with Rep. Nadler (D-NY) he talks about health conditions around Ground Zero, via the Politicker;

He went on to say that "the average cost of an apartment that was found to be contaminated was estimated at between $10-20,000. Per apartment. Now, you may have thousands of apartments -- thousands of work spaces. We don’t know. So, it's possible it's several billion dollars. Possibly a lot less. We just don’t know until we do the assessment."

"Now that’s a lot of money," he added. "Almost three days of the Iraq War. It puts it in perspective. To save our people from future illnesses and sickness, we can’t afford this kind of money, but we piss it away in three days in Iraq."

Fossella is the only New York City member of Congress to not sign on to Nadler's letter asking Congress for money to fund the health care needs of our first responders suffering from various ailments related to contamination of the area around Ground Zero.

Then there is the 2004 CNN interview where Fossella used his time to praise Bush while Rep. Nadler questioned why there was no funding for these health care needs.

Rep. Fossella neglects our domestic needs in order to chase windmills in the middle east.

Fossella is not supporting 9/11 first responders in Brooklyn

via the Bay Ridge Courier;

Armed with the names of 22 fellow representatives, Rep. Jerrold Nadler has begun his big push to ask D.C. to appropriate more than $282 million for the World Trade Center Monitoring and Treatment Program to assist rescuers and first responders afflicted with 9/11 related illnesses.

Every member of Brooklyn’s Congressional delegation with the exception of Rep. Vito Fossella has signed onto the letter, which was sent to Rep. David Obey, chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health, Human Services and Education.

“We have an obligation to provide for the monitoring and treatment for those brave first responders who were exposed to toxins at the World Trade Center,” Nadler explained. “In the days after 9/11, first-responders came to New York from around the country to help in any way they could. The least we must do now is help those that have since become sick and need treatment. Furthermore, we still need to fund the health needs of residents, non-first responder workers and school children.”

Agreed! But where is Fossella on this? This is outrageous. With all his rhetoric you would imagine he would sign on to this even if part of his district was not in Brooklyn. The article does not provide any speculation as to why he is absent from this letter but I don't mind doing so. Rep. Vito Fossella as you may know by know supports the first responders of 9/11 as much as he supports the troops. He will gladly use either group as a backdrop for publicity or empty rhetoric to constituents and reporters but when it comes time to actually doing some work to back that up he is no where to be found. Fortunately we have Rep. Nadler who has long been championing 9/11 worker's issues and is going to do something about it now that he is part of the majority, the majority Fossella has enjoyed since 9/11. Don't believe me here is a 2004 interview from CNN;

FOSSELLA: The president should be proud of his record of fighting and leading in this war against terror. And we can't just ignore the reality of September 11, if we're going to move forward as a nation.

snip

NADLER: We can debate what Bush did after and before and we should, and we can debate why they still won't pay for the medical treatment of the firemen and the other firefighters who were injured in the first response. But whether you like President Bush or not, we can debate his actions before and after. But to exploit this emotionally, the way these ads are doing, is, frankly, disgusting.

We see once again given the choice that Rep. Vito Fossella would rather profess his admiration for President Bush than use the opportunity to address the horrible government response to the health care needs of our 9/11 responders.

Does Fossella support 9/11 first responders?

In a March 2004 interview on CNN, Rep. Vito Fossella and Rep. Jerry Nadler (D - Manhattan and Brooklyn) were brought on to debate President Bush's campaign ad using September 11 references;

ZAHN: Congressman Fossella, I'm going to start with you this evening. The head of the International Association of Fire Fighters has called this ad "disgraceful," and went on to say this, "Bush is calling on the biggest disaster in our country's history, and indeed in the history of the fire service, to win sympathy for his campaign."

How do you explain to some of the families from your district why you're not opposed to this kind of ad?

FOSSELLA: The president of the United States happened to be George W. Bush. I personally believe that he responded in a -- and has responded in a steady and consistent way, has been a true leader for not just this country but has engaged the war against terror.

...

FOSSELLA: The president should be proud of his record of fighting and leading in this war against terror. And we can't just ignore the reality of September 11, if we're going to move forward as a nation.

...

But at the same time, I think we need to understand, as a nation, if we're going to go forward against this war on terrorism -- because there are those who are out there who still want to bring carnage and wreckage and evil and spread it throughout this country [note: this though has since been debunked yet Fossella continues to use it] and throughout the free-loving people of this world. We have to understand that we can talk about these things and acknowledge the truth. This isn't a representation, this is the truth. This is a tragedy that actually occurred...

ZAHN: Jump in there, Mr. Nadler. We've got to do it in 10 seconds.

NADLER: We can debate what Bush did after and before and we should, and we can debate why they still won't pay for the medical treatment of the firemen and the other firefighters who were injured in the first response. But whether you like President Bush or not, we can debate his actions before and after. But to exploit this emotionally, the way these ads are doing, is, frankly, disgusting.

Bold text and note are my own

So while Rep. Vito Fossella used his sound bites to say terror! as often as possible, it wasn't until Rep. Nadler (D) spoke second, that he brought up the point about President Bush refusing to cover the costs of medical tests and treatment for our own firemen. Given the chance to use his appearance to demand funding medical coverage for these first responders, Rep. Vito Fossella instead used his time to praise President Bush.

Rep. Vito Fossella, Independent of his constituents needs since 1997.