Washington (AFP)
Donald Trump on Monday ratified a law guaranteeing lifelong medical assistance to firefighters, police officers and other rescuers who became ill after taking part in search and clearing operations in New York after 11 September 2001, assuring himself that he had passed from time on "Ground Zero".
"Our nation owes each of you an enormous debt that no words, no act can ever pay," the US president said in the White House gardens, in front of sixty rescuers present on the day of the attacks.
The ratification of this measure by Mr. Trump puts an end to a painful chapter for the survivors of 9/11 and relatives of victims, forced to regularly come to Congress to ask for the renewal of the compensation fund for victims.
This fund would find itself short of money amidst political quarrels. The new law now extends the mandate of the Victim Compensation Fund until 2092.
The 9/11 attacks directly killed nearly 3,000 people - mostly in Manhattan in the collapse of the World Trade Center's twin towers - and more than 6,000 injured.
But thousands of other people then suffered from diseases, including cancers sometimes associated with toxic fumes that covered the Wall Street district several weeks after the attacks.
"First responders from all over the country rushed to New York and worked for endless days and sleepless nights, fighting to rescue each person trapped in the rubble, and doing research for months to find them. remains of the dead, "said Trump.
The Republican billionaire, a native of New York, has also assured that he too was present during the post-attack in Manhattan.
"I was there too, but I do not consider myself a first responder, but I was there, I spent a lot of time there with you," he told rescuers to the White House.
It is unclear how long Mr. Trump spent at "Ground Zero" as the area was quickly cordoned off by the police. The president has in the past said, without proof, to have sent more than 200 employees on site to help clean up.
© 2019 AFP