NATIONWIDE — NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL LETITIA JAMES denounced the Trump administration’s latest cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which eliminated critical staff for the World Trade Center Health Program providing medical treatment for 9/11 survivors, first responders and others affected by the attacks. In a statement released on Thursday, April 3, James wrote, “When our country was attacked, thousands of New Yorkers put their lives on the line to save others, and they deserve the care that we’ve fought for over these last 24 years. The Trump administration’s decision to continuously jeopardize the World Trade Center Health Program is a cruel betrayal of our heroes. These cuts must be reversed, and the World Trade Center Health Program must be protected.”
Created in 2011, the WTCHP provides medical treatment for more than 132,000 people impacted by the attacks. The Trump administration’s February 2025 buyout offers for federal employees and mass firings of probationary civil service staff had also led to significant staffing cuts at the World Trade Center Health Program and other federal health care programs.
Among those fired from HHS were Dr. John Howard, the WTCHP administrator, and nearly all staff at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, which oversees and provides essential support to WTCHP.
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