DOGE Cancels Federal Contract for 9/11 Research: Impact on First Responders
NEW YORK — News that the Trump administration canceled a $257,000 federal contract for research on 9/11-related diseases drew widespread condemnation Thursday among New York Democrats.
The contract would have paid for data processing work to compare cancer incidence rates among firefighters exposed to the World Trade Center toxins to firefighters in three other U.S. cities who were not exposed.
Researchers working on the project — the Career Firefighter Health Study — received notice of the contract’s termination last week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to FDNY officials.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres, who is considering a campaign for governor, zeroed in on the role of tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Governmental Efficiency apparatus.
The cancellation is listed on DOGE’s self-proclaimed wall of receipts for its efforts to “maximize governmental efficiency and productivity,” under an executive order by President Donald Trump.
“‘Never forget’ isn’t a slogan, it’s a promise to our firefighters, police officers, and all the first responders who ran into danger on 9/11,” Hochul wrote Thursday on X, which is owned by Musk. “We’ll fight like hell to stop Elon Musk and his cronies from breaking that promise.”
Last year, the number of FDNY firefighters who have died from 9/11-related illnesses surpassed the number who died on the day of the terror attacks.
Torres, namechecking DOGE in a post on X, criticized the move as “absolutely disgraceful.”
Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan chimed in: “Any response yet Donald & Elon?”
Spokespeople for DOGE and the CDC did not respond to requests for comment.
FDNY Chief Medical Officer David Prezant said he was told in an email that the contract was “determined to be non-essential because the outputs from the contract are not statutorily required.”
But Prezant noted the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010, which established a medical monitoring and treatment program for 9/11-related health conditions, included a research mandate. The act was reauthorized in 2019 and signed into law by Trump during his first term.
“This is not the program to cut,” said Prezant, who was at Ground Zero himself, in an interview. “These are heroes that ran into that building, ran into that site after the building collapsed. All they asked in return is that, if we prove they have a problem, that we’d take care of them.”
City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is running for mayor, wrote on X that 9/11 responders are “heroes, not Elon Musk’s political pawns.” Another mayoral candidate, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, called the news “reprehensible.”
New York City Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker said in a statement that the move “will hinder our efforts to provide treatment coverage for new conditions, which is a tragedy for all Americans who swore they would never forget.” The contract’s cancellation was previously reported by The New York Times.
The researchers are using the study’s results to inform their broader efforts to prove new conditions as 9/11-related, making treatment for them eligible for coverage by the World Trade Center Health Program.
Oren Barzilay, president of the union FDNY EMS Local 2507, said yanking the funds is a “detrimental decision.”
“Thousands of FDNY EMTs and firefighters responded that day and hundreds are dealing with 9/11 illnesses and diseases still being discovered over 20 years later,” he said in a statement Thursday. “Taking away research benefiting their health is severe and un-American to a community that we promise every day to never forget.”
