Advertisement

'No Responders Left Behind' sneak peek: Compensation

An exclusive clip from the documentary, 'No Responders Left Behind'

Video Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

- So James Zadroga held the Compensation Act that was passed in 2010, had to get renewed in 2015.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

- It was a great bill. People were getting taken care of.

- It was like a litmus test. Do five years, and then come back to us in five years and we'll extend this permanent. We proved not only was there no abuse of spending, but there was actually money left over. And we proved that there was no fraud.

- To me, when you first did it, that was a leap of faith. You passed this thing. Now we proved it's good. Why don't you go for this?

- I guess I thought it was a no-brainer. John had actually called me and said, you know, we have to go back down for the reauthorization. And he thought that it was probably going to be more difficult the second time around, which was kind of surprising to me. And then it was like deja vu all over again.

- When I created my team in January of 2015, only half of them were from 2010 prior. Ray became part of that team. But I took all the guys from my old team and new guys-- cops, firefighters, construction workers, union workers-- and I blended them together. And in the beginning, it was rough.

- Put me on a team right away when I was, like, shocked with Stuart and everybody else. I was like, really? You got that much confidence in me to go talk to these people.

- You guys probably remember your buddy from yesterday?

- Yes, sir.

- How are you?

- When we first met in 2010, they were down there, and we just did the show from where we were. And then for the renewal is when I-- because as an older retired gentleman, I had more free time. It was either that or get on a bus with a roll of quarters and go play slots. So I thought, oh, I just take the bus in a different direction.

[MUSIC PLAYING]