After a long drawn struggle in which both the big parties of United States traded a lot of statistics, claims and counterclaims, the Zadroga Bill was finally passed by the Senate in late December 2010. The bill is named after James Zadroga who was one of the first responders to the 9/11 terrorist bombings of World Trade Center and is named as the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. James was a victim of the illnesses caused by extreme exposure to dust and poisonous fumes while involved in the post attack search and rescue efforts.
The Zadroga bill has a pretty long history and it was being pushed for by a number of politicians from New York as well as police officers and fire fighting personnel. The bill was able to pass through the House of Representatives but it was stalled in the Senate. The Republican majority Senate was not in the favor of the Zadroga bill as it was passed by the House. The major issue was that with the US economy still in doldrums, the USD 7.4 billion expenses that the bill would have created would cause unwanted stress to the US taxpayers. Due to this, the bill amount was decreased to USD 4.2 billion, which was slightly more that half of what the House had passed through.
The reduction in the Zadroga bill amount was enough to satisfy the complaining Republicans and once it was made, the bill was passed unanimously. So much so that the Senate paused its debate on the NEW START arms reduction treaty, the vote was held in voice. The House approved the bill soon after. New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said "This is the day we have all been waiting for. Our Christmas miracle has arrived!"
In its earlier position the bill was meant to provide support to qualified first responders for a total duration of ten years. In this reduced form however, the bill only has enough funding to go on for five years. This is not a bad thing, not as bad as it looks like and is much much better than the pre bill scenario where the federal funding had to be approved on an year to year basis. Zadroga bill has considerably simplified the process of supporting these unsung heroes of one of the biggest tragedies that the United States has ever suffered. Another notable effect is on the Victims Compensation Fund. Had the original House version of Zadroga bil passed, the Fund would have remained open until 2031, now it close permanently in 2016.
Soon after the vote, , the majority leader Senator Harry Reid said,