A member of House Speaker Ryan’s (R-WI) leadership team, Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL), told media this morning that the Speaker told Northeast Members of Congress “Not to worry” about extending the Zadroga health program for 9/11 First Responders.

Further, IAVA impact continues with Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA) becoming the 267th Zadroga cosponsor yesterday. They received IAVA emails and were also contacted by their local firemen.

Zadroga Act supporters continue to work toward inclusion of the extension in the FY2016 omnibus funding bill. With no final agreement on the measure, the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday released a five-day continuing resolution to fund the government through Dec. 16, which both chambers must pass by this Friday. The President is expected to sign it, but warned the GOP over attempts to attach “ideological riders.” This development may be beneficial to the Zadroga fight, as it buys more time for negotiators to agree on offsets for the $8-11 billion price tag.

How you can help: IAVA has set up a “Take Action” web page, to be updated daily, for our veterans and supporters to ask their Members of Congress to support the bill. The page, iava.org/zadroga, lists all current cosponsors of the measure. If your representatives in DC aren’t yet on the bill, click here to email your members of Congress.