Will Bush Help Ailing Ground Zero Workers?

Ground zero workers rally for federal aid



Pedestrians walk on the eastern edge of the World Trade Center site in this Jan. 6, 2004, file photo. Hundreds of ground zero workers and several lawmakers asked President Bush on Saturday, June 17, 2006, to send more help to ailing rescue workers. (AP Photo/Zack Seckler)

June 17, 2006

NEW YORK -Hundreds of ground zero workers and several lawmakers asked President Bush on Saturday to send more help to ailing rescue workers.

The workers, along with U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Vito Fossella, rallied at the World Trade Center site to ask for more government help for Sept. 11-related health problems.

Several New York lawmakers sent a letter to the president asking for a meeting to discuss how the federal government can better help people who have been sickened by their exposure to dust at ground zero.

The lawmakers said thousands have been sickened by working at ground zero after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and need help paying medical bills and monitoring their health.

Officials who run a city health registry say it's too soon to definitively link the illnesses to Sept. 11.