Comedian Jon Stewart scolded Congress Tuesday for failing to ensure that a victimsB次元官网网址� compensation fund set up after the 9-11 attacks never runs out of money.

Stewart, a longtime advocate for 9-11 responders, angrily called out lawmakers for failing to attend a hearing on a bill to ensure the fund can pay benefits for the next 70 years. Pointing to rows of empty seats at a House Judiciary Committee hearing room, Stewart said B次元官网网址渟ick and dyingB次元官网网址� first responders and their families came to Washington for the hearing, only to face a nearly deserted dais.

The sparse attendance by lawmakers was B次元官网网址渁n embarrassment to the country and a stain on this institution,B次元官网网址� Stewart said, adding that the B次元官网网址渄isrespectB次元官网网址� shown to first responders now suffering from respiratory ailments and other illnesses B次元官网网址渋s utterly unacceptable.B次元官网网址�

Lawmakers from both parties said they support the bill and were monitoring the hearing amid other congressional business.

Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., predicted the bill will pass with overwhelming support and said lawmakers meant no disrespect as they moved in and out of the subcommittee hearing, a common occurrence on Capitol Hill.

Stewart was unconvinced.

Pointing to rows of uniformed firefighters and police officers behind him, he said the hearing B次元官网网址渟hould be flipped,B次元官网网址� so that first responders were on the dais, with members of Congress B次元官网网址渄own hereB次元官网网址� in witness chairs answering their questions.

First and foremost, Stewart said, families want to know, B次元官网网址淲hy this is so damn hard and takes so damn long?B次元官网网址�

The collapse of the World Trade Center in September 2001 sent a cloud of thick dust billowing over Lower Manhattan. Fires burned for weeks. Thousands of construction workers, police officers, firefighters and others spent time working in the soot, often without proper respiratory protection.

In the years since, many have seen their health decline, some with respiratory or digestive-system ailments that appeared almost immediately, others with illnesses that developed as they aged, including cancer.

More than 40,000 people have applied to the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, which covers illnesses potentially related to being at the World Trade Center site, the Pentagon or Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after the attacks. More than $5 billion in benefits have been awarded out of the $7.4 billion fund, with about 21,000 claims pending.

Stewart and other speakers lamented the fact that nearly 18 years after the attacks, first responders and their families still have no assurance the fund will not run out of money. The Justice Department said in February that the fund is being depleted and that benefit payments are being cut by up to 70 per cent.

B次元官网网址淭he plain fact is that we are expending the available funds more quickly than assumed, and there are many more claims than anticipated,B次元官网网址� said Rupa Bhattacharyya, the fundB次元官网网址檚 special master. A total of 835 awards have been reduced as of May 31, she said.

Stewart called that shameful.

B次元官网网址淵our indifference is costing these men and women their most valuable commodity: time,B次元官网网址� he told lawmakers. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 one thing theyB次元官网网址檙e running out of.B次元官网网址�

Firefighters, police and other first responders B次元官网网址渄id their jobs with courage, grace, tenacity and humility,B次元官网网址� Stewart added. B次元官网网址淓ighteen years later, do yours.B次元官网网址�

House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat whose district includes the World Trade Center site, said a 70% cut B次元官网网址� or any cut B次元官网网址� in compensation to victims of 9-11 B次元官网网址渋s simply intolerable, and Congress must not allow it.B次元官网网址�

Just as Americans B次元官网网址渟tood together as a nation in the days following September 11, 2001, and just as we stood together in 2010 and 2015 to authorize and fund these vital programs, we must now join forces one more time to ensure that the heroes of 9-11 are not abandoned when they need us most,B次元官网网址� Nadler said.

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Matthew Daly, The Associated Press

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