He won a victory last week when the House passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA). The legislation, which opens the door for U.S. citizens who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11 terror attacks to sue the government of Saudi Arabia, was passed by the Senate unanimously earlier this year. “It clarifies the jurisdiction of the court in terms of U.S. citizens being able to sue a foreign government for terrorist attacks on U.S. soil,” Nadler said.

Many of the hijackers involved in the Sept. 11 attacks hailed from Saudi Arabia.

Nadler, a Democrat, has been in Congress since 1992. He represents the 10th Congressional District, a two-borough district that runs from the Upper West Side of Manhattan, down to lower Manhattan and then crosses the East River to take in parts of several Brooklyn neighborhoods, including Red Hook, Sunset Park, Borough Park, Dyker Heights, Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Kensington and Midwood.

Nadler was among the lawmakers who fought to get the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act passed. “Carolyn Maloney and I pushed the bill for seven years,” he said. U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney is a Democrat representing parts of the East Side of Manhattan and Greenpoint in Brooklyn.

The Zadroga Act was passed with a big push from New York’s two senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.

The legislation is named after James Zadroga, a police detective who worked on “the pile” at the World Trade Center site and who died of a respiratory disease in 2006.

The bill included health care coverage for first responders and victims who worked on the rescue and recovery effort at the World Trade Center site in the weeks and months following the Sept. 11 attacks and breathed in toxic air.

“They were exposed to dangerous toxins through no fault of their own,” Nadler recalled. Christie Todd Whitman, who was the head of the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at the time, assured first responders and iron workers that the dusty air they were breathing was safe. Nadler said he knew otherwise. “I remember screaming, ‘The air is toxic!’” he said.

Whitman recently apologized and admitted that she was wrong to state back in 2001 that the air was safe.

“As everyone down there knew, in reality, the air was full of deadly toxins, and as a result, thousands of first responders, area workers, residents and students have become sick and many have died,” Nadler said in a statement he issued after Whitman admitted her mistake.

First responders were not the only people exposed to toxic air at the World Trade Center site, according to Nadler, who said residents of lower Manhattan’s Financial District were breathing the same air.

“We waged a bill fight on behalf of people who were suffering,” Nadler said. “People are suffering from all sorts of sicknesses.”

Nalder said he firmly believes that the nation should learn the lessons of Sept. 11, particularly about the treatment of terror attack victims.

The original bill expired after five years. Congress voted to renew it. The health care coverage provision was eventually extended to 75 years. But a second part of the bill, establishing a victim’s compensation program, still has a five year window on it. The 2011 version of the Zadroga Act authorized approximately $2.7 billion to pay to victims to settle injury claims through the Victim Compensation Fund. 

In 2015, Congress put in another $4.5 billion in the compensation fund.  

Ninety percent of the people who are eligible to file claims have already done so, but Nadler said he thinks it’s important to remind the remaining 10 percent that the fund is there for them.

While Nadler works to make sure that victims and workers affected by the Sept. 11 attacks are properly cared for, it isn’t the only issue that takes up his time in the House.

He is constantly working on legislation aimed at addressing gender pay inequity, fighting for the rights of the LGBT community and crafting bills to assist families and children.

He recently introduced, along with U.S. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-Washington, D.C.) and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut) a bill that would prohibit employers from asking job applicants to reveal their salaries at previous jobs.

It’s a gender and racial equity issue, according to Nadler. Women and minorities face pay discrimination early on in their careers, Nadler said. And there’s a real danger that the pay gap will follow them throughout their working lives, he said.

“How about if you are discriminated against because you’re a woman? The next employer doesn’t think they are discriminating against anyone when they ask about salary history. But it holds women back,” Nadler said.

Nadler, who described himself as a voracious reader, has often come up with ideas for legislation while reading news articles. “I am always looking for things to do in certain areas,” he said.

A bill he is pushing to protect the rights of pregnant women on the job is an example. He read an article about employers discriminating against pregnant women and decided to do something about it.

Along with Maloney, he introduced the Pregnancy Workers Fairness Act in 2015.

The bill calls on employers to make a “reasonable accommodation” for workers who are pregnant.

Current law is vague, according to Nadler, who said it leaves an opening for an employer to treat all of the employees equally badly as long as pregnant women weren’t singled out for excessive treatment.

That doesn’t protect the rights of pregnant woman, many of whom need to work during their pregnancies for financial reasons, Nadler said.

Nadler’s congressional district is diverse in its territory and in its population.

“But there are common needs in all parts of the district,” he said. “Everyone wants safety, a decent economy, good public transportation.”

Still, there are issues that are unique to certain parts of the district and he tries to zero in on those.

Nadler pointed to Borough Park as an example. The heavily Orthodox Jewish community is home to many large families. He is pushing for a change in the federal earned income tax credit to help families with large numbers of children.

“The earned income tax credit is a good thing. But it tops out at three children,” he said, explaining that a parent who has five or six children and who applies for the tax credit gets the same amount as a parent with three kids.

Nadler is pushing to have the cap to be expanded to seven children.

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