By Mike Lillis – 11/28/15 12:11 PM EST
Lawmakers in both chambers are racing against the clock to extend health and compensation benefits for the responders and victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Parts of the James Zadroga Act expired last month — and funds for the health benefits program will begin drying up early next year — but the effort to renew the law has been hampered by ongoing disagreements over spending levels, the window for reauthorization and which offsets will cover the multi-billion-dollar price tag.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who supports the reauthorization effort, has called on a pair of committee heads — Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) — to iron out those details.
“We should get this done by the end of the year,” Ryan said last week.
The request is in line with Ryan’s promise to stick to regular order in moving bills through the lower chamber.
But with the clock ticking down on 2015, the champions of the Zadroga renewal increasingly see their best chance in attaching the measure to a larger legislative package. The highway bill is one option, supporters say. But the better odds might lie with the omnibus bill, a year-end spending package Congress must pass by Dec. 11 to prevent a government shutdown.
“That appears to be the vehicle,” Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), a lead sponsor of the House bill, said Wednesday by phone. “The problem is we’re coming down to the wire here.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/news/261362-clock-ticking-down-on-9-11-responder-law
