Tomorrow is the day:
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) says the Senate will start to vote on the Zadroga bill tomorrow.
“After speaking with Leader Reid, it appears that the 9-11 health bill will come up for a key vote in the Senate tomorrow, once the START Treaty is completed," Schumer said. "It will be decision day in the Senate, and we will see once and for all who will keep their promise to never forget the heroes of 9/11.
But here's something to remember: over the past couple of days, much of the reporting on this has been focused on Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), his vow to block the bill, and his assertion that the Senate should wait until "next year" to tackle the issue, with all this leading to him being called out by the Oklahoma City Fire Fighters Association, and even by Fox News:
Again, this is the picture of Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma. He is the man who is vowing to slow this down or block it, so the necessary funding for the illnesses of the first responders who made it to Ground Zero to try to save lives on the day that America changed — remember? This is the senator who is vowing to block it. So that it doesn’t make it through. Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, the man who vows today to block or delay the 9/11 first responders bill despite the fact that Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York say they have the votes to get it done.
And while the other forty-one Senate Republicans may be thrilled that Coburn is taking most of the heat, the bottom line is, less than two weeks ago all forty-two GOP Senators voted to block health care for 9/11 workers until they got a deal on tax cuts for millionaires.
Tom Coburn may be the one making the most noise about this now, but he couldn't have done it without his forty-one co-conspirators. And no one should ever forget that.