HHS Restores WTC Health Program Staffing After Congressional Pressure

HHS Secretary RFK Jr. approved hiring for 37 long-vacant positions at the World Trade Center Health Program, restoring staffing from 83 to the federally authorized level of 120 employees. The reversal came ahead of Kennedy's Senate Finance Committee testimony and followed months of bipartisan criticism from Senators Gillibrand and Schumer over the reassignment of program staff to ICE enforcement duties. The program serves over 140,000 enrolled first responders, survivors, and Lower Manhattan residents, with over 53,000 9/11-related cancer cases now certified — surpassing the 2,977 killed on the day of the attacks.