Oklahoma Republican Senator Tom Coburn will block a bill that would cover the health-care costs for Ground Zero workers, preventing a vote before the Christmas holiday, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Coburn, who is a medical doctor, joins conservatives who do not want to spend the billions necessary to provide medical care to the police officers and firefighters who have gotten ill or may eventually get sick after spending days and weeks on the respiratory poison-filled rubble of the World Trade Center in New York.
The bill’s sponsors, New York Democrats Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, have the votes to get the bill passed, the Republicans can still block the bill because of the filibuster. The House already passed the bill.
Funding for the health-care would come from closing a corporate tax loophole.
The bill is named for James Zadroga, a New York Police Department detective who died in 2006 of respiratory disease that has been linked to his rescue work at Ground Zero.
Jon Stewart has spent days ranting about the Congressional failure to pass this bill thus far.
Coburn’s office can be reached at 202-224-5754 or by fax at 202-224-6008 or by email.