Comedian and former "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart, along with 9/11 first responders and survivors, was in Washington, D.C., on Monday to urge federal lawmakers to pass a bipartisan measure to make sure funding to help those who were injured in the 2001 attacks doesn't run out.
The proposed legislation would provide more money, as well as make permanent, the Victim Compensation Fund, which offers financial help to firefighters, first responders and others who were hurt by or contracted illnesses from the terrorist attacks, CNN reports. Unless the legislation is passed, the fund will expire in 2020, and officials will reduce payments by between 50 percent to 70 percent to make sure all victims receive some compensation.
So far, $5 billion of the fund's more than $7.25 million budget has gone toward 21,000 claims, with another 20,000 still pending, according to CNN.
"The idea that 18 years later, (victims are) still tugging on the hemline of the government to get this bill through and to get it funded properly and to make it permanent is truly beyond comprehension, even for a dysfunctional body," Stewart said in an interview on the cable news channel.
