PoliticsJames Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act 9/11 healthPolitics

Jon Stewart Wanted Names Of 9/11 Bill Opponents. Here They Are.

Jon Stewart Wanted Names Of 9/11 Bill Opponents. Here They Are.
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Senior Congressional Reporter, HuffPost

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WASHINGTON -- With the health treatment program for 9/11 responders set to expire this fall and Congress moving slowly to reauthorize it, Jon Stewart demanded to know on his show Wednesday night who is responsible for all that "bullshit."

It turns out, there's an app for that.

A 9/11 advocacy group, Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act, rolled out a website Thursday that lets people look up any member of Congress and find out where they stand on the new Zadroga Act as well as what they've said about 9/11 in the past.

People who don't know their representatives' names can plug in a ZIP code, and see what their House member and senators have done and said about 9/11 and about the bill to help ill responders. It also connects users to social media so they can share their opinions.

"This tool will allow 9/11 responders, survivors, their families and supporters to see where each member of Congress stands on renewing and extending the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act and whether 'Never Forgetting 9/11' is just a hollow political statement or something that members of Congress are in fact committed to doing," said Richie Alles, deputy chief of the New York City Fire Department and a board member of the group.

So far, lawmakers, especially Republicans, have shown a greater willingness than they did five years ago to pass the legislation.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) told Stewart that she hoped her version of the Zadroga Act would get a vote sometime around Sept. 11.

Stewart, who said the stalling around the 9/11 bill makes him so mad he "can't even think straight," pledged he would stay on the issue, although his run on "The Daily Show" ends in August.

"Let's schedule a call, and let's schedule a ritual shaming around that time," he said. "I obviously at that point will be knee-deep in, more than likely, grain alcohol."

There's that old maxim that says, "Don't drink and dial," though the new app also offers people the ability to connect by phone with members of Congress.

If Stewart is willing to close the Mixologist app and open the 9/11 one around then, we hope someone is sober enough to record his call to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

Michael McAuliff covers Congress and politics for The Huffington Post. Talk to him on Facebook.

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Before You Go

9/11 Timeline
7:59 a.m.(01 of15)
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The four airplanes that were hijacked on 9/11 began taking off at 7:59 a.m. The first to depart was American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 that left Boston's Logan International Airport for Los Angles with 92 people on board. At 8:14 a.m., United Airlines Flight 175 -- a Boeing 767 with 65 passengers on board -- also left Logan for Los Angeles. American Airlines Flight 77 left Washington Dulles International Airport at 8:20 a.m. The plane, a Boeing 757 with 64 people on board, was bound for Los Angeles. Finally, at 8:42 a.m., United Airlines Flight 93 departed from Newark International Airport. The Boeing 757, which had 44 passengers that morning, was bound for San Francisco.

This file photo shows an American Airlines Boeing B-767 in Miami in 2001. The plane pictured was not used in the attack.

 (credit:Getty)
8:46 a.m.(02 of15)
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The first crash occurred at 8:46 a.m. when Flight 11 hit the north tower of New York's World Trade Center.According to the 9/11 Commission Report, two flight attendants contacted American Airlines as the plane was being hijacked to provide details of the emergency. They reported the use of Mace or a similar spray, several stabbings and a bomb threat.The last known communication from the plane came when flight attendant Madeline "Amy" Sweeney, on the phone with American Flight Services manager Michael Woodward, said, "Oh my God we are way too low." (credit:Getty)
9:03 a.m.(03 of15)
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The second crash happened at 9:03 a.m., when Flight 175 hit the south tower of the World Trade Center.The last communication made with air traffic control was made at 8:42 a.m., but passengers were able to provide details of the flight by contacting their families by phone.Brian Sweeney called his wife, Julie, to tell her the plane had been hijacked, and Peter Hansen told his father, Lee, "I think they intend to go to Chicago or someplace and fly into a building." (credit:AP)
9:05 a.m.(04 of15)
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President George W. Bush learned of the attacks at 9:05 a.m. while sitting in a second grade classroom at an elementary school in Sarasota, Florida. White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card informed him of the attacks, whispering into his ear during the students' reading lesson.Bush recently shared his memories of that day with National Geographic. When he received news of the first plane crash at 8:50 a.m. -- just before entering the classroom -- he thought it was "a light aircraft, and my reaction was, man, the weather was bad or something extraordinary happened to the pilot."It wasn't until Card informed him of the second plane that Bush knew America was under attack. (credit:AP)
9:31 a.m.(05 of15)
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In an address from Emma Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida, President Bush called the attacks "a national tragedy" and "an apparent terrorist attack on our country.""I have spoken to the vice president, to the governor of New York, to the director of the FBI, and have ordered that the full resources of the federal government go to help the victims and their families, and to conduct a full-scale investigation to hunt down and to find those folks who committed this act," Bush said."Terrorism against our nation will not stand." (credit:AP)
9:36 a.m.(06 of15)
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At 9:36 a.m., Secret Service agents evacuated Vice President Dick Cheney and his aides from his office to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, a Cold War-era bunker beneath the White House. (credit:AP)
9:37 a.m.(07 of15)
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Flight 77 crashed into Pentagon at 9:37 a.m.The 9/11 Commission Report tells how passenger Barbara Olson called her husband Ted -- the solicitor general of the United States -- to inform him of the attacks. She reported that the flight had been taken over and that the aircraft was "flying low over houses."A few minutes later, air traffic controllers at Dulles International Airport observed plane on their radar traveling at "a high rate of speed." Officials from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport warned the Secret Service of the aircraft shortly before Flight 77 hit the Pentagon. (credit:AP)
9:45 a.m.(08 of15)
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At 9:45 a.m. -- minutes after Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon -- the White House and U.S. Capitol were evacuated. (credit:Getty)
9:59 a.m.(09 of15)
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After burning for 56 minutes, the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed at 9:59 a.m. The fall, which killed approximately 600 workers and first responders, lasted 10 seconds. (credit:Getty)
10:03 a.m.(10 of15)
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The fourth hijacked plane crashed at 10:03 a.m. in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.The 9/11 Commission Report says several passengers made calls from the plane and received word of the other hijackings. Upon hearing the news that major cities were being targeted, the passengers decided to revolt:
Five calls described the intent of passengers and surviving crew members to revolt against the hijackers. According to one call, they voted on whether to rush the terrorists in an attempt to retake the plane. They decided, and acted.

At 9:57, the passenger assault began. Several passengers had terminated phone calls with loved ones in order to join the revolt. One of the callers ended her message as follows:"Everyone's running up to first class. I've got to go. Bye."
According to the 9/11 Memorial, the hijackers deliberately crashed in a field to prevent passengers from retaking the airplane. The crash site in Shanksville is approximately 20 minutes flying time from Washington, D.C. (credit:AP)
10:28 a.m.(11 of15)
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At 10:28 a.m., after burning for 102 minutes, the north tower of New York's World Trade Center collapsed, killing approximately 1,400 people. (credit:Getty)
11:02 a.m.(12 of15)
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New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani ordered an evacuation of lower Manhattan at 11:02 a.m., alerting everyone south of Canal Street to get out. (credit:AP)
1:04 p.m.(13 of15)
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At 1:04 p.m., after all American air space had been cleared, President Bush addressed the nation from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, informing citizens that the U.S. military "at home and around the world is on high alert status.""Make no mistake, the United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts," Bush said. (credit:AP)
5:20 p.m.(14 of15)
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Hours after the attacks that morning, the 47-story 7 World Trade Center building collapsed from ancillary damage. No one was in the building at the time. (credit:Getty)
8:30 p.m.(15 of15)
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President Bush gave his final address of the day from the White House at 8:30 p.m.From the Oval Office, the president informed Americans that he had implemented federal emergency response plans, noting emergency teams and the military were already at work:
Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts.

The victims were in airplanes or in their offices -- secretaries, businessmen and women, military and federal workers. Moms and dads. Friends and neighbors.

Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror.

The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing, have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness and a quiet, unyielding anger.

These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong. A great people has been moved to defend a great nation.
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