Mike Rogers, the Michigan Republican U.S. Senate candidate, has tried to stir up controversy in recent weeks over old tweets his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, posted about the events of 9/11. He wrongly suggested, for example, that El-Sayed, a Muslim, said the US deserved the attack.
But critics say Rogers twice voted against health care and other benefits for 9/11 first responders and survivors, congressional records show. He also helped defeat other bills that would have provided benefits and health care to first responders across the country. Rogers, a former member of Congress, is vying for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat in a tight race that could decide control of Congress next session.
Rogers was among the Republicans who voted against the 2010 James Zadroga Health Care Funding Act for 9/11 First Responders and Survivors, which was used in part to treat and monitor 40,000 people who worked in toxic conditions after the attack. The bills’ funding also helped treat responders to more than 50 types of cancer associated with exposure to Ground Zero.
At the committee, Rogers said it “jeopardizes the financial health of the United States.” Rogers was joined by 156 other Republicans in voting against him, mostly on his $5.1 billion price tag, but 17 GOP members left the party and supported it. The final package passed the House of Representatives by a vote of Rogers.
That drew sharp criticism this week from John Feal, a 9/11 first responder who championed legislation supporting benefit programs and who spent 11 weeks in the hospital after a steel beam fell on his leg at ground zero. Part of his foot was amputated.
Phil told the Guardian that he personally discussed the Zadroga Act with Rogers in Congress during the committee debates at which Phil testified. Phil said Rogers told him that first responders’ health problems were a “New York problem” and asked, “Where is the money going to come from to help them?”
He called Rogers’ opposition to benefits for 9/11 first responders a “betrayal.”
“Here’s the thing: Republicans like Mike Rogers love cops and firefighters until one of them gets shot or burned in a fire and can’t do their job,” Phil said. “It’s their rules. They say, ‘You’re a hero.’ Oh wait, are you sick? You are draining the power of the municipality and the federal government. Get out of here.”
In response to the Guardian, Rogers’ campaign said: “Any attempt to divert attention from Abdul making Hassan [Piker] “Central to his campaign is his incredible disrespect for the thousands of Americans who died that day.” Alyssa Brouillet, a spokeswoman for Rogers’ campaign, pointed to a comment by a popular Twitch streamer in 2019 in which he said, “America deserved 9/11.” (Pyker has since apologized and retracted the comments shortly after, saying they were a poor attempt at satire. El-Sayed called the comments “dumb” and disavowed them.)
The revelation came after Rogers sent an email to supporters criticizing El-Sayed for his comments on 9/11 and appeared to lie about seeing Osama bin Laden’s body. In the bold section of the letter, Rogers wrote: “I saw the corpse of Osama bin Laden with my own eyes, knowing that together we brought justice for America.”
But Rogers was not in Pakistan when bin Laden was killed by U.S. special forces, and he was not in the White House situation room where then-President Barack Obama and senior administration officials were overseeing the raid.
In 2010, Republicans faced enormous backlash for their votes against Zagroda’s legislation. Phil told CBS News at the time, “Whichever member of Congress votes against this bill, Republican or Democrat, should go to prison for manslaughter.”
In 2002, Rogers voted against adding additional funding for veterans’ health care and first responders to a bill that would reimburse New York City schools for 9/11-related expenses.
In 2011, Rogers voted for the Homeland Security appropriations bill, which became controversial due to deep cuts in funding for state and local first responders and terrorism prevention funding. Several Republicans voted against it because of these concerns. In 2013 and 2014, Rogers voted against budget amendments that would have provided billions in funding for emergency services. And in 2013, he voted against a proposal to protect pensions for first responders.
Henry Yanez, a former Michigan firefighter now a city councilman in the Detroit suburb of Sterling Heights who supported El-Sayed, was among those who traveled to New York to support fire services after the Sept. 11 attacks. He criticized Rogers for his votes.
“When you’re talking about the health and safety of our first responders and now you’re going to throw a can aside, you know – that’s a problem, as far as I’m concerned,” Yanez said. “Mike Rogers – shame on him.”
Yanez said he was especially surprised because other Republicans in Michigan supported first responders and Rogers was an FBI agent. “He should get it,” Yanez said.
Phil said he believes Rogers’ opposition to the bills is disqualifying.
“Many members of Congress think they are untouchable until they are humiliated and lose an election,” Phil said. “Rogers is not invincible, and he’s only doing this for himself.”