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.”
U.S. stocks close Monday's session slight higher Monday as investors continue to monitor whether the economy will successfully avoid a recession. For many, fears over inflation and rising interest rates. Tommy Mancuso, president and co-founder of the Bad Investment Company, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Bill Nye the Science Guy is back but on an even smaller screen. America’s favorite science teacher has racked up more than eight million followers on TikTok, and he joined Cheddar News to talk about his success on the platform, having fun but also being serious about scientific topics like tackling climate change, and his newest hosting project "The End is Nye," a streaming show on Peacock that examines disasters — both natural and manmade. "There are six episodes. We have big disasters. Things go terribly wrong, and then we show you how things could have gone right," he explained.
Cheddar Politics takes a look at the Biden Administration's effort to center inflation concerns in the White House's economic policies. Reuters White House reporter Jeff Mason joins Cheddar News to discuss what the White House is doing and what more it can do to help fix economic issues.
In another round of sweeping sanctions against Russia for its war on Ukraine, European Union leaders have agreed to ban the vast majority of Russian oil by the end of the year. But, the embargo covers only Russian oil brought in by sea, allowing an exemption for fuel imported via pipeline. Christine McDaniel, a senior fellow with the Mercatus Center, discusses just how significant this deal is, and what impact it might have on the global energy sector.
Catching you up on what you need to know on Monday, June 6, 2022, a string of mass shootings across the country this weekend, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces a no-confidence vote this morning, and Tropical Storm Alex floods Miami.
U.S. stocks closed Friday's session near session to cap off the week in the red. The disappointing end to the day and week follows a lukewarm May jobs report from the Labor Department and comes as investors continue to eye future rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. Callie Cox, U.S. Investment Analyst for eToro, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
While the United States struggles with mass shootings, other countries have had success with gun regulations - often after their own mass shootings. On this Gun Awareness Day, Cheddar's Shannon LaNier reports on steps some other countries have taken to stop gun violence.
Join Cheddar News as we break down the Need 2 Know headlines this morning including Gun Violence Awareness Day, how to prevent mass shootings, and the president's comments on gun control.
