Lawmakers from across the state and political parties are calling on President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. to restore the positions of over 800 fired employees, including Dr. John Howard, the World Trade Center Health Program administrator.
Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, U.S. Rep. Andrew Garbarino, and representatives from New York City joined on April 4 to write the letter to the Trump administration.
“We were appalled at the recent announcement that the Department of Health and Human Services cut two-thirds of the staff at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), under which the WTCHP operates,” the lawmakers wrote. “The WTCHP relies on NIOSH staff to fulfill many of its obligations under the law, and eliminating staff that implement it, especially as more and more responders and survivors fall ill with 9/11-related conditions, will directly interfere with program operations and undermine access to the treatment these heroes have earned and deserve.”
The Trump administration restored Howard’s position on April 5, but the government later fired another 16 employees at the World Trade Center Health Program.
Benjamin Chevat, executive director of Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act, said that firing 16 employees lowers the program’s staff to 60, which is less than half of the 138-employee count the program is supposed to authorize.
“These cuts to NIOSH will be devastating to the World Trade Center Health Program and must be stopped,” Chevat said.
Howard had been in charge of responding to 9/11-related health issues at the federal level since 2006 and was reappointed by health secretaries under the presidencies of Barack Obama and Trump.
The firing and subsequent rehiring occurred as Kennedy began implementing the agency’s “Make America Healthy Again” campaign.
On March 27, the Department of Health and Human Services announced it fired 10,000 full-time employees, citing workforce redundancy. The agency also said it would reduce its 28 divisions, which include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration, into 15.
The Trump administration also cut around 20% of the World Trade Center’s staff in February before reversing its decision shortly after.
While it’s unknown how many more staff members from the health program may face termination, Chavet said the program relies on other programs at the federal agency to do its work, like using doctors working for the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health to sign off on certificates certifying 9/11-related conditions like cancer.
Chevat said the recent cutbacks would hamper these efforts.
In the letter Schumer and Gillibrand sent to the Trump administration, they ask that the administration respond to questions about how the health program plans to operate in the future and if more firings are expected.
The James Zadroga Act was first signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2011 to establish the federal World Trade Center Health Program, which has served over 137,000 first responders and survivors of the 9/11 attacks as of September 2024.
The Zadroga Act also authorizes the health program to issue around $20 million in research grants to improve health care for survivors. Staff members who decide where the grant money goes were included in the firings.
“Normally, these grants would have been announced last month but were not,” Chevat said.
Update: This article has been updated to include the firing of 16 more World Trade Center employees.
