The Trump administration has been quietly pulling money out of a fund for New York City firefighters and medics suffering from 9/11 related illnesses, with nearly $4 million channeled to the federal government, an investigation by Michael McAuliff of The New York Daily News found.
Though paperwork showed the full amount of cash had been sent to the fund by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the Treasury Department started quietly withholding between half a million to nearly 1.5 million dollars for several years, according to the report.
“This was just disappearing,” FDNY World Trade Center Health Program Director Dr. David Prezant told The News. “This is the most amazing thing. This was disappearing — without any notification.”
Despite incessant inquiries, Prezant said he was not given an explanation for why the fund meant to help 9/11 emergency responders was no longer receiving the money promised by Congress in the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. (Zadroga was a New York City police officer who died in 2006 of a respiratory disease stemming from being part of the rescue and recovery efforts after the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers collapsed on 9/11.)
Only after Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) intervened and asked Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin about the matter was Prezant provided what he views as an unsatisfying answer. The feds were squabbling over Medicare bills with a different agency in New York City; for some reason, they decided to go after 9/11 emergency responders’ funds. | 
