Jon Stewart Attacks Mitch McConnell For Handling Of 9/11 Victim Fund

On Monday’s episode of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, former host of The Daily Show Jon Stewart attacked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for his handling of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.

Stewart and McConnell have been at each other’s throats in the past few days over what Stewart perceives to be the senator’s poor handling of the 9/11 fund. The current legislation that supports it was renewed in 2015 and is set to expire in 2020, but the fund’s administrator announced in February that there was not enough money to satisfy all of the claims. House lawmakers decided to expedite the renewal of the bill by a year and pass it during this legislative session. While it is expected that the law will easily pass the House, many doubted whether it would clear the McConnell-controlled-Senate.

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In order to ensure the passage of the bill, Stewart, who is a dedicated advocate for the victims of September 11, gave testimony in Congress and spoke out against McConnell. The former TV host appeared before the House Judiciary Committee to lobby for the bill’s passage. He also criticized the panel for its apparent apathy, as half of the committee members failed to show up for Stewart’s testimony. McConnell defended the representatives’ absences, saying that lawmakers are often absent because “members have a lot of things going on at the same time.” The senator also responded to Stewart’s attacks towards him, saying he didn’t know why the host was “all bent out of shape,” and that he vowed to fully fund the 9/11 bill.

During Monday’s episode of the Late Show, Stewart replied to McConnell’s statement, saying, “I’m bent out of shape for them,” referring to the victims of the September 11 attacks. “These are the first heroes and veterans and victims of the great trillions of dollars war on terror.” He went on to criticize the senator for his previous lack of support for the bill, accusing McConnell of delaying the bill’s renewal in order to further his own political gains. He then made one last appeal to McConnell in an attempt to motivate the senator even more by saying, “If you want to know why the 9/11 community is ‘bent out of shape’ over these past, let’s call it 18 years, meet with them, tomorrow, as soon as possible, and don’t make them beg for it.”

Article by Daniel Knopf