The Senate has finally passed the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act, by a vote of 97-2. The two votes against were from Republicans Rand Paul and Mike Lee, for whom no tax cut is out of bounds, but who think the survivors of the 9/11 attacks have it too easy, apparently.
Mitch McConnell's agreement to allow an amendment from Lee to restrict the funds brought the bill to the floor, finally, after Paul blocked it from moving forward on unanimous consent last week. The reauthorization of the bill will allow victims and their families to file claims through 2090 and will pay funds out through 2092.
In the process of this reauthorization working its way through Congress, more than 200 first responders, including firefighters, died. Just while Congress was dicking around with the funding and forcing victims such as Luis Alvarez to spend his dying days pleading on behalf of his colleagues.
That spectacle is finally done. The funds will be there for the remainder of the survivors' days, and they'll never again have to beg for a pittance from Congress. It only took Jon Stewart and Luis Alvarez publicly shaming them on every news broadcast in the nation to get it done.