9/11 Heroes Suffer as Health Program Stripped Away, Director Fired

“It’s bad policy and an unbelievable betrayal,” said Michael Barash, lawyer for the firm which has represented over 35,000 responders and survivors of the tragedy of 9/11. Now he, along with a slew of officials, union leaders, first responders and others, are embroiled in what one could call a second tragedy: a last ditch effort to reverse the dismantling of the agency that oversees the World Trade Center Program, which the Trump administration has gutted. Dr. John Howard, the program’s administrator and the director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has been fired, just as in the slashing of other federal government programs. Liz Schuler, president of the AFL-CIO said cuts to NIOSH will have “devastating and irreversible effects” on workers, and “this action is a gift to corporations that want to slash worker protections to create more profits.”

Read the full story by Duncan Freeman for The Chief, published April 5, 2025, here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/911-health-program-administrator-gutted-director-fired,54157