The following was submitted to YWN-NYC by NYC Councilman Domenic Recchia:

Today, the New York Post reported that Rep. Michael Grimm has refused to sign on to legislation that would end the sequestration of funds from the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund and the World Trade Center Health Fund because he was not invited to a press conference.

Three months have passed since the press conference and yet Grimm continues to refuse to sponsor the legislation that would reinstate sequestration cuts of $17 million from the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund and $10 million from the World Trade Center Health Fund.

“This is self-aggrandizing, petty politics at its worst,” said Council Member Domenic M. Recchia, Jr. “First, Grimm punished our first responders by supporting the sequestration. And, now, when given the chance to make things right, Grimm’s punishing these heroes once again. This time though he’s making them suffer because he didn’t get his 15 minutes of fame. It’s ridiculous.

“Staten Island and South Brooklyn are home to thousands of first responders and many victims and heroes of 9/11 who so courageously worked on that tragic day and in its aftermath, putting their own health in peril for their city and country. As a congressman, I will never forget the sacrifice those men and women made for us and I certainly won’t abandon them because an invitation got lost in the mail.”

Recchia further urged the House Budget Committee to take action to pass this bipartisan legislation (H.R. 811), which is sponsored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Peter King, and restore the sequestration’s cuts to these important programs.

Domenic M. Recchia, Jr. is running to represent the people of Staten Island and South Brooklyn in New York’s 11th congressional district. Recchia is currently a New York City Council Member and chair of the Council’s Finance Committee.

(YWN Desk – NYC)