Jon Stewart responds to McConnell: Don't make 9/11 responders beg
Stewart slammed the sparsely attended Congressional hearing last week about renewing funding for a program that provides health care to first responders who became sick responding to the 9/11 attacks
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFJon Stewart testifies in front of the House Judiciary Committee on the need to reauthorize the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund on June 11, 2019 in Washington.(photo credit: JACK GRUBER-USA TODAY VIA REUTERS)
Jewish comedian Jon Stewart responded sharply to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday evening, after McConnell told Fox News that he didn't know why the comedian had gotten "all bent out of shape" while testifying in Congress the previous week.Stewart had slammed the sparsely attended Congressional hearing last week about renewing funding for a program that provides health care to first responders who were sickened responding to the Sept. 11 attacks. Most of the panel's 14 members were not in attendance."You should be ashamed of yourselves for those who aren’t here," he screamed, "but you won’t be, because accountability doesn’t appear to be something that occurs in this chamber."McConnell responded to his outburst on Monday, telling Fox News that the move to support these responders would be fully funded and that the poor showing at the hearing was a result of the fact that "members have a lot of things going on at the same time.""I don't know why he is all bent out of shape," McConnell said. "We will take care of the 9/11 compensation fund.""I'm bent out of shape for them," Stewart responded while appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday night. "These are the first heroes and veterans and victims of the great trillions-of-dollars war on terror.""Now I feel stupid," Stewart said sarcastically regarding McConnell's explanation that congress members have a lot going on. "This is a huge misunderstanding. I didn't know that they were busy... I didn't mean to interrupt them with their jobs!""If you want to know why the 9/11 community is 'bent out of shape' over these past, let's call it eight years, meet with them - tomorrow, as soon as possible - and don't make them beg for it," Stewart said. "You could pass this thing as a standalone bill tomorrow. Meet with them, I beg of you.""If you're busy, I get it," he said. "Just understand the next time we have a war, or you're being robbed, or your house is on fire, and you make that desperate call for help, don't get bent out of shape if they show up at the last minute with fewer people than you thought were going to pay attention and don't actually put it out."Reuters contributed to this report.
