Local lawmakers say the city’s $575 million settlement offer for ill September 11th first responders is not enough – and they’re pushing for a bill that would give the workers health care coverage for life.

The $11 billion James Zadroga Health and Compensation Act is set for a crucial vote by the House of Representatives Health Subcommittee tomorrow.

Representatives Carolyn Maloney, Jerrold Nadler, and Anthony Weiner say the measure would offer continuing health care and not just a one-time payment to the thousands of people who became ill after working at the site.

The bill has been languishing for years in Congress.

“It has been nine years too long,” Maloney said yesterday. “It is time for us to move this bill to the floor and provide the health care to the people who need it.”

“People are dying today and frankly if we knew when we passed the Victim’s Compensation Act, when we passed the laws to respond to September 11th, if we knew then what we know now, there’s no way that this wouldn’t be part of the law,” said Weiner.

The lawmakers acknowledge that even if the bill is passed, it will not happen within the 90-day deadline for 95 percent of the 10,000 sick workers to agree to the city’s settlement offer.

(Source: NY1)