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April 27, 2025 14 mins
Original Air Date: April 27, 2025

Leading 9/11 advocate John Feal is heading to DC  on 4/28 with his army of survivors- pushing to get Congress to restore  job cuts to the 9/11 World Trade Center Health Program. The cuts are endangering lives of our heroes, along with other 9/11 survivors.
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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, Conversations about issues that matter.
Here's your host, three time Grasie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
I want to reintroduce you to perhaps the strongest advocate
for the nine to eleven community, our beloved John Feel
whose battle seems you know, our battle is never ever over.
And I invited John Field to come on because we

(00:32):
have seen some dramatic cuts to the World Trade Center
health program and it's been this back and forth thing
and I just want to get the very latest information
from John Field because so much is happening in Washington
right now that it's absolutely impossible to keep on top
of it all. So John, thank you first of all

(00:55):
for all the wonderful work that you do on behalf
of the nine to eleven community and fill us in
on the latest.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
Please well one, thank you for having me again, and
hopefully one day we we just shoot the breeze and
talk about life and the good times.

Speaker 4 (01:14):
But you know where chill, We're we're fighting two battles now.

Speaker 5 (01:19):
We're fighting the cuts to the World Trades and the
health program because of the layoffs at NIOSH, and we're
fighting to get legislation passed for the World Trades and
the health program, for the three billion dollars short for
all that we were left out of last year, the
nine to eleven community needs, and or This is a marathon.

Speaker 4 (01:41):
This is not going to be a sprint.

Speaker 5 (01:42):
We are facing our toughest obstacle in opposition over the
last two decades. Over the years when we had to
get legislation passed or fixed issues, they were tough, They
were hard physically and mentally, they were draining.

Speaker 4 (01:58):
But this one, this is a different beast.

Speaker 5 (02:01):
And we have shown that we are formidable and that
we have the endurance and the stamina.

Speaker 4 (02:10):
And I believe this is going to be a long fight.

Speaker 5 (02:14):
And I pray the nine to eleven community has faith
and just keeps doing what they're doing, going to the
world for the help program, filing for claims to get compensated,
and we'll take care of the rest. And I promise
them there is light and while that light is at
a distance, there is light at.

Speaker 4 (02:32):
The end of the tunnel.

Speaker 5 (02:34):
And I got a really good team of men and
women uniform in non uniform going to DC with me tomorrow.
And I can't thank them enough because in twenty ten,
twenty fifteen, twenty nineteen. I put them through the ringer,
and I expect nothing but the best from them.

Speaker 6 (02:55):
Where do we stand with the cuts?

Speaker 2 (02:57):
I heard that the head of the World Trade Center
health program was re hired, But what percentage of the
program a staff has now been cut?

Speaker 6 (03:08):
Do we even know? You're like shrugging your shoulders to me.

Speaker 4 (03:12):
Yeah, I mean doctor Howard has this job back. But
you know doctor Howard was fired illegally.

Speaker 5 (03:19):
The only one who could fire doctor Howard is the
secretary himself, Secretary Kennedy, who's got the IQ of the
soap dish, and then he was rehirited illegally. So as
a common sense thinking person, it's hard to wrap your
arms around this. It's hard to digest it and swallow it.
If you're in the World Trades in a health program

(03:40):
now and you're getting treated, things shouldn't be altered or
affecting you. Where the biggest hold up is is now
people getting.

Speaker 4 (03:47):
Enrolled where there was already a delay.

Speaker 5 (03:51):
So getting enrolled into the World Trades and Health program
is an issue, a big issue right now. And then
getting certified for your illnesses like cancer, that is a
serious big issue because right now, doctor Howard's the only
one who could certify those illnesses, and he's got other
things to do with the administrative level to keep this

(04:12):
thing up and running. Doctor Howard was brought back and
given a cruise ship with no crew. And if you're
on that cruise ship, you're not getting fed, you're not
getting entertainment, and people are going to suffer. And we're
working diligently to correct a lot of these mistakes that

(04:33):
was done recklessly in humane.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
You say that this is mostly affecting people who are
trying to sign up for the first time with the
World Trade Center Health Program. I had heard before that
the phones weren't even being answered.

Speaker 6 (04:50):
Is this still the situation?

Speaker 4 (04:53):
Correct?

Speaker 6 (04:54):
Really?

Speaker 4 (04:55):
Yeah? Well, I mean, Niosh, you know, so, here's the thing.

Speaker 5 (05:00):
Shell you're a first responder and you want to get
into the program, or you're a survivor and you want
to go into the program, it's going to be really
difficult and a long way to get into the program.

Speaker 4 (05:12):
But you have cancer.

Speaker 5 (05:13):
And then when you finally do get into the program,
the World Trade Center Health Program has nobody to call it, Niosh,
to certify that English, that illness, that cancer and those
people will have to go to their own own colleges
until they're seen by doctors in the network at the

(05:35):
World Trade Center Health Program who have twenty plus year
is experienced in dealing with nine to eleven cancer. This again,
when I repeat it, because it's redundant. For me, it's
hard to absorb it. And I'm not I'm trying to
paint the landscape of the devastation that we went through

(05:58):
on nine to eleven and the twenty four years since,
of the pain and suffering that these men and women
respond as survivors, Those who worked, who went to school,
lived in Lower.

Speaker 4 (06:08):
Manhattan that are going through We're a finite number.

Speaker 5 (06:12):
We're getting smaller every day, and people going to die
because of stupidity, because of lack of humanity, because of empathy,
because because these are unqualified. I mean, I've never seen
a group of people so grossly unqualified to make these decisions.

(06:38):
These people have no experience in the nuances of the
federal government and how it truly runs and how it
helps the American people. And it's not just our program,
it's programs across the board. John Stewart and I are
now fighting for the burn pits where they're going to
lay off eighty thousand VA employees who are responsible for
the burn pits.

Speaker 4 (06:57):
It's it's it's.

Speaker 5 (07:00):
The most cruelest, the nastiest, ugliest, repulsive, vile thing that
we could do to each other as human beings.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
I'm speaking with John Field, advocate for the nine to
eleven community. We are addressing the drastic cuts to the
staff at the World Trade Center Health Program.

Speaker 6 (07:20):
John said that you know, if.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
You're first trying to apply so that you can get
this free lifetime healthcare that was promised to survivors of
nine to eleven, and this includes residents, this includes students.
This is of course the first responders, but it includes
the whole community. And now a threat. You know, twenty

(07:50):
four years later, we never dreamed we would be in
this position. Explain though to the audience, John, why it's
necessary to have this program. Why people, you know, because
some would say, well, they.

Speaker 6 (08:04):
Could just see their own oncologists.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
You know, there are doctors, So why do we need
the World Trade Center Health Program?

Speaker 6 (08:13):
Twenty four years later?

Speaker 4 (08:15):
Yeah, no effect, No.

Speaker 5 (08:19):
Disrespect to any on colleges out there who doesn't deal
with nine to eleven. We have a highest vival rate
in the nine to eleven community than the general population.
Our doctors, our scientists, our caseworkers, our anybody who works
in the World Trades has an idea, a better idea,
and the statistics and the facts and the science to

(08:40):
know what they're looking for early screen and protection, the physicals.

Speaker 4 (08:46):
We just have a better.

Speaker 5 (08:47):
Chance of survival with cancer now than the general population.
The network of doctors that are sent at Sloan Kettering
or Mount Sinai. These doctors I've been with us for
two decades. They know what they're doing, and these aggressive
cancers are attacked and treated aggressively, and people have a

(09:08):
better chance of survival.

Speaker 4 (09:10):
You know, our bill is mandatory.

Speaker 5 (09:12):
We're only one of two mandatory programs in all of Washington, DC.
It would take an Act of Congress to even remove
the World Trade Center Health Program from the map. They
would never get two hundred and eighteen votes in the
House or at sixty in the Senate.

Speaker 4 (09:27):
To remove us.

Speaker 5 (09:30):
But what they're doing is hurting everything that supports us
and keeps us up and running.

Speaker 4 (09:35):
And it's is equally as bad because it's intentions.

Speaker 5 (09:39):
It's done by a petty penchulant administration who has zero
competence and the way the government runs, and I could
blame a lot of people. I can blame a lot
of people in the administration because it's a collective group
of really dumb, stupid people who have no ounce of

(10:00):
empathy or what happened twenty four and a half years ago,
and only care about themselves because they're not government.

Speaker 4 (10:11):
They're not legislating, they're.

Speaker 5 (10:12):
Not they're not doing anything that requires government work. They're
just tweeting, sending out thirty second videos of themselves.

Speaker 4 (10:20):
And there are a.

Speaker 5 (10:22):
Bunch of costs playing theatrical high school drama queens. And
that's what that's what this country is getting right now.
And it saidens me because in my mind, I'm the
most patriotic person I know. I'm a veteran, I'm an
e elevens found, I'm a kidney doing that's a complete stranger.
And to see humanity slip away and I'm sadding. But

(10:45):
I'm re energized and I'm focused, and I'm ready to
fight and do whatever it takes. And when I say
do whatever it takes, I mean do whatever it takes.

Speaker 6 (10:53):
Okay, So what is the battle plan tomorrow? When you
head to Washington, DC.

Speaker 5 (10:58):
Yeah, you know, I'll have a team with my twenty
something plus people. The teams will be broken down, the
team leaders will have meetings with their team members, and
then on Tuesday morning, I'll put four teams in the
House and the Senate and they will have thirty one meetings.
And it's painful to see them from the morning to

(11:20):
the afternoon when they're done. The physical toll it takes
on them, and the mental toll because each meeting is contentious,
each meeting is are redundant, and each meeting takes away
from their livelihood and I have to live with the
pain that they go through or because they put the
masses before themselves. And there's nothing good to feel about this,

(11:43):
you know, even you know, if I talk to you
next week and we got a bill pass and the
cuts are restored, the same way I'm talking to you now,
it's the same way I would be talking to you
next week, because the damage is done. Yeah it could
be corrected, but the damage is done. And good people
are suffering because they got damage. And you know, we
don't talk about the postraumatic. We don't talk about those

(12:04):
with severe post traumatic, severe emotional issues, and many of
them can't digest what's happening.

Speaker 4 (12:09):
They can't. They can't digest it, they can't absorb it.

Speaker 5 (12:12):
They can't understand why somebody would inflict so much pain
on them when they're already in excruciating pain.

Speaker 2 (12:18):
And John, we only have about a minute and a
half left. What can our listeners do to help? What
can our listeners do?

Speaker 5 (12:25):
Yeah? I mean, you know, listen, get on the internet,
look up and remember of Congress they all have emails
and phone numbers, and tell them to support Hr fourteen
ten and to restore the cutston.

Speaker 4 (12:36):
Iosh, it's that simple. You know, content your local.

Speaker 5 (12:40):
Members of Congress and your senators and tell them that
the World Trade Center Health Program is helping people across
the country in every state.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
And remember, what are we saying to our first responders?
What are we saying, you know, to the whole community.
There was a promise, a pledge, never forget put that,
never forget into action. It's not just two words. We're

(13:11):
talking about lives at stake. We're talking about heroes, lives
at stake. We're talking about people who went into the
burning buildings to save people like you and me. What
are we saying to our future first responders? What are
we saying to our children who It would be such

(13:32):
a blessing and an honor to have your child or
your grandchild grow up to be a first responder. We
owe them, We cannot let them down, never forget put
it into action. Thank you so much, John, Feel and
good luck in Washington.

Speaker 6 (13:50):
We will be updating you.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
You've been listening to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, a production
of New York's classic rock Q one O four point
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