Jon Stewart's next act? Getting extended health care benefits for 9/11 responders and survivors

This guy is a champ, on screen and off.

This guy is a champ, on screen and off.

This guy:

Jon Stewart is less than a week away from retiring from The Daily Show, but he’s already thinking about his next act: crusading this fall in Washington for the Sept. 11 first responders.

The Comedy Central star has promised to make a Capitol Hill trip as early as September to support a bill extending an expiring law that provides billions of dollars in medical health benefits for the police, firefighters and other emergency rescue workers who spent time at Ground Zero, as well as survivors of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Stewart committed to lobby the very lawmakers he’s made a career out of skewering during a backstage greenroom chat early in July with John Feal, an Army veteran and post-9/11 cleanup worker who is spearheading the advocacy push for the legislation. Feal told POLITICO that he expected Stewart to firm up the date for the visit after his final Daily Show appearance on Thursday.

We'll miss his sharp wit on The Daily Show, but if this is indicative of the next chapter for Jon Stewart, it can't start soon enough. You can read more about his plans to lobby Congress at Politico.