Garbarino, colleagues support inclusion of 9/11 health funding amendment in final NDAA

U.S. Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) helped lead a bipartisan contingent of congressional lawmakers in urging leadership in both chambers to include an amendment addressing the funding shortfall in the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP) in the final version of the fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Specifically, the lawmakers want to include a #1065 amendment from U.S. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Mike Braun (R-IN) in the FY 2024 NDAA to modify the funding, expand eligibility for and make other changes to the WTCHP, which provides medical monitoring and treatment to responders and survivors who suffered from health conditions related to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. 

The bipartisan, bicameral amendment is a scaled-down version of the 9/11 Responder and Survivor Health Funding Correction Act of 2023, S. 569, which Sen. Gillibrand introduced on Feb. 28. Rep. Garbarino on March 1 sponsored the identical H.R. 1294 in his chamber alongside 30 original cosponsors, including lead original cosponsor U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY).

Sen. Gillibrand and Rep. Garbarino led several colleagues in sending a letter to congressional leaders requesting that the Senate-approved amendment be included in the NDAA.

“Compared to earlier versions of the text, this amendment does not include technical policy changes and costs a total of $676 million, which is fully offset by the inclusion of a reform to the citizen’s petition process at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reduce administrative costs,” wrote the lawmakers.

They noted that the citizen’s petition process allows stakeholders to express concerns about pending drug applications to the FDA, which must respond to such petitions. However, some bad actors use the process to delay generic competition from entering the market, according to their letter. 

“By reforming the citizen’s petition process, the FDA will have more discretion to reject citizen petitions if the petition’s primary purpose is to delay the approval of a pending drug application,” Rep. Garbarino and his colleagues wrote. “This will lead to greater access to generic drugs and more competition in the marketplace, in addition to cutting administrative costs at the FDA.”

The subsequent savings could help close the funding gap in the WTCHP, which was reauthorized in 2015 and extended through 2090 with bipartisan support. In 2022, lawmakers delivered $1 billion for the program in the end-of-year spending bill.

Currently, according to information provided by Rep. Garbarino’s office, it’s estimated that the funding formula in the statute will not be able to keep pace with the anticipated costs of providing services under the WTCHP.

“While Congress extended the program to 2090, the precipitous rise in medical costs and cancer rates in survivors and first responders since then has led to an impending funding shortfall that must be addressed,” wrote Rep. Garbarino and his colleagues. “Unless Congress acts, the program will have to announce in 2027 that responders and survivors who suffer from an illness arising from of their heroic service to our country will not be able to join the program, and that starting in 2028, the program will bar new enrollees along with other anticipated cuts in services.”

By including the Gillibrand-Braun #1065 amendment in the final NDAA conference report, the lawmakers wrote, they could guarantee “that these heroic men and women are able to continue to receive the health care benefits they deserve.”