NEW YORK _ The bill to replenish the expiring 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund will get a vote in the full House of Representatives on Friday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer announced Tuesday.
The move is a major step for the bill, which would undo drastic cuts in payments to ill and dying responders and other survivors.
"I'm pleased to announce the House will vote this Friday on the Zadroga Pfeifer Alvarez 9/11 #Renew911VCF," Hoyer, D-Md., tweeted. "The heroes who ran into harm's way that day deserve swift action. I thank Jon Stewart @RepMaloney @RepJerryNadler & others for their advocacy on this issue."
Stewart and ailing former NYPD Detective Lou Alvarez helped catapult the measure to the front of the public's mind by offering dramatic testimony to Congress in June.
The bill now has more than 330 sponsors in the House and 70 in the Senate.
Although the Congressional Budget Office has not yet set a price tag on the measure, which would fund compensation until 2090, it is likely to pass with so many backers.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has pledged he will act on the bill before Congress takes off for August, although he has not specified how he will act.
A Senate Republican source told the New York Daily News that McConnell will likely skip over the normal, slower-moving consideration by a committee in order to bring the Senate's version of the bill up sooner.
