How the 9/11 Responders Bill Finally Got Through

How the 9/11 Responders Bill Finally Got Through

How the 9/11 Responders Bill Finally Got Through

Chris Hayes speaks with Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-New York) about how progressive legislation ever makes it through Congress.

Facebook
Twitter
Email
Flipboard
Pocket

It says something about the 111th Congress that there was so much resistance to a bill giving health benefits to 9/11 emergency responders—one that was fully paid for and had widespread public support. 

Now that the bill has passed, The Nation‘s Chris Hayes speaks with one of its most vocal advocates, House Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-New York), about how progressive legislation ever makes it through Congress. The answer? Often it’s because of "unstoppable pressure" from outside the Beltway, and the amount of media attention being brought to bear on an issue.

Read Chris Hayes’s latest column on how the Senate sorely needs filibuster reform here.

Braden Goyette

Like this blog post? Read all Nation blogs on the Nation’s free iPhone App, NationNow.
NationNow iPhone App

We cannot back down

We now confront a second Trump presidency.

There’s not a moment to lose. We must harness our fears, our grief, and yes, our anger, to resist the dangerous policies Donald Trump will unleash on our country. We rededicate ourselves to our role as journalists and writers of principle and conscience.

Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

I urge you to stand with The Nation and donate today.

Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x