Wow. It looks like I've been too hard on Bill O'Reilly. I thought that when he said it would be just hunky-dory if al Qaida came to San Francisco and blew up a monument to firemen that he was just being a mean old loudmouth. But now it appears that those weren't his fireman-hating thoughts. He was just repeating Republican talking points.
Congressional budget negotiators have decided to take back $125 million in Sept. 11 aid from New York, which had fought to keep the money to treat sick and injured ground zero workers, lawmakers said Tuesday.
New York officials had sought for months to hold onto the funding, originally meant to cover increased worker compensation costs stemming from the 2001 terror attacks.
But a massive labor and health spending bill moving fitfully through House-Senate negotiations would take back that funding, lawmakers said.
[...]
Top New York fire officials recently lobbied Congress to keep the funding. Fire and police officials say they worry that many people will develop long-term lung and mental health problems from their time working on the burning pile of toxic debris at ground zero and they want to use the money to help them.
Meanwhile, Bill Frist has an op-ed piece in the Washington Times explaining why the rich need more tax cuts. According to the tinkle-on theory of economics, tax cuts for the least needy among us grow the economy in a way that cures cancer. If we get rid of taxes on capital gains and dividends, the firemen won't need worker compensation for their lung, skin, and imune system ailments. Or something like that.
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