9/11 health program administrator gutted, director fired

Advocates for first responders and 9/11 survivors denounced the Trump administration’s gutting last week of the agency overseeing the World Trade Center Health Program, with one prominent supporter of first responders calling the cuts “unpatriotic.”

Dr. John Howard, the program's administrator and the director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, was among those fired as part of the Trump administration’s larger personnel and funding cuts across the federal government. After pressure from advocates and labor unions, Howard was rehired over the weekend, but other cuts, including the firing of more than a dozen WTCHP staffers, have yet to be reversed.

“This will have serious consequences that will create a snowball effect and will be detrimental to the 9/11 community, and it's going to recklessly hurt people,” said John Feal, a staunch advocate for survivors of the terror attacks and founder of the FealGood Foundation. “This is malicious. It’s incompetence and it’s being done by people who don’t know how to run the federal government."  

Feal, a demolition supervisor at ground zero who was badly injured when a steel beam slammed down on his foot, said he was “disgusted” and “repulsed” by the cuts, and called them “un-American and unpatriotic” 

Hundreds of other NIOSH staffers were laid off by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., among them doctors who under federal law are the only health officials who can certify 9/11 survivors’ illnesses. Certification from these NIOSH doctors is a requirement for survivors to join the WTCHP, and without any doctors on staff, advocates fear that survivors who develop cancer in the coming months won’t be able to join the program and receive needed health care.  

“There’s no one there to pick up the phone, there’s no one there to certify 9/11 illnesses,” said Michael Barasch, the managing partner of the law firm Barasch & McGarry, which represents more than 35,000 9/11 responders and survivors in all 50 states. “These people are not going to be able to get health care now. People are going to die.” 

The WTCHP supports more than 140,000 people, many of whom would not have insurance or low-cost health care without the program.  

Gary Smiley, a former FDNY paramedic who was trapped in the North Tower after it collapsed, said that cuts were “malignant stupidity.” 

“The amount of damage that has been done is just incredible,” he said. “Everyone says they will ‘never forget’ 9/11, but this is positive proof they have forgotten.” 

Emily G. Hilliard, an HHS deputy press secretary, said that all required programs will remain intact and “as a result of the reorganization” will "be better positioned to execute.”

"The WTC Health Program’s Clinical Centers of Excellence and Nationwide Provider Network are continuing to provide services to Program members at this time,” Hilliard said in an email. “Direct patient care is functioning, and Program members are being seen by doctors and nurses at clinics." 

Many affected

NIOSH also certifies firefighter bunker gear as well as police, construction and mining gear and is tasked with preventing work-related injuries and illnesses. The NIOSH cuts will have “devastating and irreversible effects” on workers in various industries across the country, Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO said in a statement.  

“Firing the NIOSH workforce sets up a domino effect of serious and dangerous consequences: the government will no longer research emerging health hazards, methods to prevent mine explosions, or certify the safety of respirators and other critical personal protective equipment,” she said. “This action is a gift to corporations that want to slash worker protections to create more profits. It’s an insult to the workers who put their lives on the line at work every day and their families who wait for them to come home.” 

Jim Brosi, the president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, implored the Trump administration to reverse the cuts, saying that the loss of staff “poses a significant threat to the health and safety of firefighters, first responders and workers nationwide.”  

“The dismantling of NIOSH threatens to derail ongoing research into 9/11-related health conditions, potentially delaying advancements in treatment and support for those still battling the aftermath.” Brosi said in a statement. “This move jeopardizes the health of our members and dishonors the memory of those we have lost.” 

Andrew Ansbro, the president of the Uniformed Firefighter's Association, said he was relieved that Dr. Howard was reinstated, but insisted that there were other staffers who needed to be rehired. The FDNY sends between 30 and 50 requests for certification to NIOSH doctors each week, the union leader said, and members' health care will likely be delayed by the cuts.

"There's still a lot of unanswered questions," he said. "We just don't know what's going to happen and there's going to be delays."

Trump makes good on threats

In December, after a late intervention by Trump and Musk, congressional Republicans excised funding from the end-of-year budget passed by Congress that would have kept the WTCHP solvent through 2040. Advocates warn that the program could run out of money by 2027 if more funding was not allocated.  

The Trump administration fired 16 WTCHP staffers in February, part of the across-the-board cuts of probationary employees instituted by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Those staffers — representing 20 percent of the WTCHP workforce — were rehired following a bipartisan backlash in Congress and criticism from Feal and other advocates.  

Barasch partially blamed Musk for the cuts this week. “DOGE is removing a tumor with a Musk machete instead of a scalpel,” he said. "It's bad policy and it’s an unbelievable betrayal. "

Lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, spoke out against the cuts. “These cuts will delay and deny care for our sick first responders suffering from cancer, respiratory illness and more," the New York Democrat said in a statement. "It is nothing less than a complete betrayal to the memory of those we lost on 9/11 and the heroes who courageously stood up to help New York and our country during one of America’s darkest hours. Everyone should be furious and I will not stop until the staff and program is fully restored.” 

On April 4, a bipartisan group of 30 federal lawmakers including Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries penned a letter to Trump and Kennedy urging them to reverse the cuts.

“We understand that your plan is to ultimately eliminate all NIOSH staff in the next few days," the lawmakers wrote. "The WTCHP relies on NIOSH staff to fulfill many of its obligations under the law, and eliminating staff that implement it, especially as more and more responders and survivors fall ill with 9/11-related conditions, will directly interfere with program operations and undermine access to the treatment these heroes have earned and deserve."

Advocates applauded the lawmakers' push to roll back the cuts but Smiley, the 9/11 responder, said that even if Trump restores the funding, “the damage that he’s done will last.”

dfreeman@thechiefleader.com