The U.S. Department of Treasury has paid the roughly $4 million it owed to the Fire Department of New York’s World Trade Center Health Program after weeks of criticism and pressure from New York’s legislators, state officials and advocates for the first responders.

The Uniformed Firefighters Association announced the reimbursement had been competed via its Twitter feed on Monday and said, going forward, the fund supporting those who developed 9/11 cancer and other medical issues would not be shortchanged to make up for money federal officials claim New York City owes Washington.

“Ailing 9/11 first responders have enough to worry about and thankfully will no longer have to worry about their healthcare being compromised,” the UFA tweeted.

The FDNY World Trade Center Health Program funds health care and assistance for 9/11 first responders who suffer the lasting effects of their work during the attack, the search and rescue efforts and ensuing cleanup.

World Trade Center Health Program Shorted For Years

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin confirmed earlier this month the federal government had withheld $3.92 million in expected payments to the FDNY World Trade Center Health Program since 2004 because of other debts New York City purportedly owes. Mnuchin acknowledged the situation in a letter to New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio, according to CNN, and copied to “30 New York state officials including Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and US Sen. Chuck Schumer, another Democrat who has been in correspondence with Treasury over the issue.”

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which falls under the Department of Health and Human Services, is responsible for distributing the federal government’s share of funding to the 9/11 program. But the agency reportedly held back a portion of that funding to “offset still-unexplained disputes over Medicare debts the city has with the feds,” the New York Daily News reported.

In his letter, Mnuchin said the Department of Health and Human Services had investigated the matter and “concluded that it has no authority” to siphon money from the FDNY World Trade Center Health Program funds.

“We agree that it is unfair to burden FDNY with the delinquent debts of other NYC government entities,” Mnuchin’s letter said.

Efforts to Address the Situation Began Months Ago

New York Congressman Pete King first wrote to Mnuchin about the withheld payments in June, then again in September. King had been alerted to the situation by the FDNY Chief Medical Officer Dr. David Prezant, who oversees the FDNY World Trade Center Health Program. Prezant told King the program had been “docked about half a million dollars each year in 2016 and 2017,” AM New York reported. In 2018 and 2019, he hold King the program was shorted about $630,000 in 2018 and 2019 and this year $1.45 million was held back.

“It is essential that you release these funds immediately to the FDNY’s World Trade Center Clinic,” King wrote to Mnuchin in September, according to The Hill. “Our firefighters should not [be] punished for an administrative issue with New York City’s Department of Finance.”

Calls to Restore the Funds Grew Louder Recently

After Treasury Secretary Mnuchin sent his letter confirming the World Trade Center Health Program payments had, in fact, been deliberately withheld, President of the Uniformed Firefighters Association Andrew Ansbro held a news conference and demanded the program be made whole.

“Can I blame Secretary Mnuchin? I guess I can’t because this has been going on for 17 years, but I would appreciate him fixing it, and fixing it to our satisfaction where the money is returned,” The Hill quoted Ansbro as saying. “They can chase down New York City’s debt somewhere else, but on the backs of New York City firefighters who are suffering from 9/11-related illnesses, that’s not acceptable.”

About the FDNY World Trade Center Health Program

The Fire Department of New York’s World Trade Center Health Program is a branch of the national World Trade Center Health Program, which provides no cost care to those directly affected by the September 11th terrorist attacks in New York City, at the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The national program was created in 2011 to consolidate and replace two previous programs offering similar services.

In New York, the FDNY program provides active and retired firefighters and EMS workers affected by the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center with physical health care, mental health care and other assistance and services. The program also conducts relevant research on the physical and mental impact made on the first responders, including ongoing respiratory illnesses, post-traumatic stress disorder, possible links with autoimmune diseases as well as the event’s effect on occupational factors.

Another fund that benefits survivors of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks is the 9/11 Victim’s Compensation Fund which provides compensation to any person who was at Ground Zero in New York between Sept. 11, 2001 and May 30, 2002.