A day after TV personality Jon Stewart blasted lawmakers for their inaction, the House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to extend the compensation fund for police, firefighters and other first responders to the Sept. 11 attack sites, NPR reports.
The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund was established in 2011 to help first responders whose illnesses and deaths were connected to their exposure to toxic substances they encountered at the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pa. But the Fund is nearing depletion. Stewart, who has long championed the cause of the first responders, criticized Congress for not extending the program, telling lawmakers “you should be ashamed of yourselves.”