Top New York lawmakers and advocates are sounding the alarm about the future of a federally funded program providing health care and support to more than 130,000 9/11 victims and first responders.

Over the weekend, 16 workers at the World Trade Center Health Program were reportedly fired, despite assurances the program’s staff would be spared cuts. 

The cuts are sparking new fears that patient care will suffer, interrupting or delaying the treatments some enrollees desperately need as they battle ailments caused by the toxic chemicals unleashed by the collapse of the Twin Towers.

The layoffs are the latest in a series of shakeups — spearheaded by the Trump administration — at the program over the past few months.

“The chaos we see throughout the administration we're seeing 10 times over at the World Trade Center program,” Sen. Chuck Schumer said Sunday. “We hear people are being fired, then we hear they're being restored. Then we hear they're being fired, then they're being restored."

Amid the confusion and upheaval, last week, the FDNY’s chief medical officer said cancer patients were not able to get approved for treatments. 

Meanwhile, 9/11 community advocate Ben Chevat, who serves as executive director of Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act, warns that other aspects of the program are also not functioning like they should. 

“Every month, the program enrolls another 600 to 800 9/11 responders and survivors who meet the criteria,” he said. “We know that in April, none of those people who met the criteria were enrolled, delaying their access to care. That's a fact.”

Asked over the weekend about the cuts, President Donald Trump sidestepped the question, instead invoking how he signed legislation during his first term permanently authorizing the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund. 

“I was the one in my first term that helped them get money and helped them really live a much better life. That was a very important thing I did in my first term. But I'm not aware of anything that may have been brought up recently,” Trump told reporters.

In response to an inquiry from Spectrum News, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said the World Trade Center Health Program is still providing services to “Program members at this time” and is “accepting, reviewing, and processing new enrollment applications and certification requests.”  

Chevat argues it does not add up, saying he “absolutely” feels he has been lied to by the Trump administration, calling it “the most opaque administration yet.”

Left hanging in the balance: first responders and victims from a day that forever reshaped New York and America. 

Of note, the new cuts from this past week are separate from a round of terminations at the program in February, which were credited to the president’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. 

Those were reversed amid public outcry. 

This weekend’s reported cuts also come a month after mass firings at HHS, including at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The World Trade Center Health Program relies on NIOSH doctors to evaluate survivors and first responders and certify they have 9/11-related illnesses.