Tuesday’s 97-2 vote in the Senate to extend permanent protections for 9/11 first responders came after many years of visits to Capitol Hill — more than 280 for John Feal alone, a former demolition specialist and responder from Long Island whose advocacy has helped bring a national conversation to the issue.
And minutes after the lopsided vote, Feal made sure to alert lawmakers that his days of tirelessly knocking down their doors are thankfully coming to a close.
“We’ll put down our swords,” he said on Capitol Hill, acknowledging the good-faith efforts that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell exhibited in recent months to get the bill a clean vote.
After all, during a recent trip to Washington, Feal came bearing a special memento for McConnell: the NYPD badge of Detective Luis Alvarez who died on June 29, a gesture that Jon Stewart recently told Cheddar he had hoped would secure passage of the measure.
McConnell’s commitment to Feal was widely noticed.
Jake Lemonda, the president of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association, told Cheddar, “When someone gives you their word, that’s their bond. I have so much respect. He stuck to his word. And I thank him.”
Republican Rep. Pete King added, “You have to give [McConnell] credit.” King was joined by his GOP colleague in the Senate Cory Gardner to gather support for the compensation fund from skeptical conservatives, although two Republicans — Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and Senator Mike Lee of Utah — were on full blast Tuesday with their no votes.
“Trying to block this was inexcusable,” Rep. King told Cheddar about Paul and Lee.
There is a line that some New York Democrats like Rep. Carolyn Maloney and House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler say about the immediate post-9/11 reality: that New Yorkers were told, as Maloney puts it, a “toxic lie” — that the air at Ground Zero was safe to breathe. (Former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman apologized in 2016 for her role in government-led misinformation in the fall of 2001.)
“Government told them to go back,” Maloney told Cheddar Tuesday on Capitol Hill. History] will show it was a "horrible, horrible judgment and horrible decision.”
But Tuesday was not the day for the sharpest of barbs, nor the most accusatory of finger-pointing. It was, instead, a day of muted celebration: a victory of a hard-fought battle that has come — and continues to come — with devastating consequences (members of Congress have indicated that 18 people have died in the past month alone from 9/11-related illnesses). And while the bill got its final push over the goal line from McConnell, a simple credo has united the advocacy efforts for so many others along the way. As Maloney told Cheddar Tuesday, “We promised we would never forget.”
Today is Veterans Day, a day each year that gives us a chance to honor our service members and reflect on the issues they face in our armed forces. One issue that's gotten a lot of scrutiny recently is the handling of sexual assault cases in the military. The military has long been criticized for how it handles cases of sexual assault, with particular attention paid to how cases are investigated and prosecuted usually within the chain of command. The defense department has said sexual assault cases will be removed, but it's not the same as Congress changing the law itself.
Lory Manning, retired U.S. Navy captain and the director of government operations at the Service Women's Action Network, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
Greenwood, a digital banking platform aimed at supporting Black and Latino businesses and clients, is launching its very own GreenBook. Named after the historic publication for Black travelers during the era of Jim Crow, the online guide will provide a directory of Black- and Latino-owned businesses across the country. Ryan Glover, the founder and chairman of Greenwood, joined Cheddar to provide additional details about the listings.
President Biden's infrastructure plan will be pumping billions of dollars into the EV sector. David Shepardson, Correspondent at Thomson Reuters, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to break down all of the details.
Al Root, Senior Writer at Barron's, joined Wake Up With Cheddar's Jill Wagner to break down who qualifies for the proposed EV tax credits and why some automakers aren't too pleased about extra incentives for vehicles made at union plants.
Jill Wagner is joined by Baker to talk about kids and vaccines: we finally know how many young kids are getting vaccinated. Plus, Democrats are working on a Plan B for paid family leave. And the salad chain Sweetgreen goes public.
A breakthrough deal between the U.S. and China when it comes to climate has finally been reached. The two countries have pledged to work together to curb carbon emissions. Amy Harder, executive editor at Cipher, joined Cheddar News to discuss more.
President Joe Biden is expected to visit GM's 'Factory Zero' plant in Detroit, where mass production of its electric vehicle fleet will get underway. Biden is likely to tout his recently passed $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan, which allocates $7.5 billion toward EV infrastructure.
Jill is joined by “Friend of the Pod” Mosheh Oinounou to talk booster shots, and whether “fully vaccinated” will eventually mean three shots, not two. Plus, the latest on the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. And the research is in: we know now the perfect way to hug. Also, Jill and Mosheh debate whether Airpods are passé.
A deal was reached as the COP26 Summit in Glasgow came to a close. Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, Chief Scientist at the Nature Conservancy and Author of 'Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World,' joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss the deal.
