NEW YORK — Federal workers who help run the health program for Sept. 11 first responders and survivors have been rehired after a bipartisan outcry forced the Trump administration to reverse deep cuts that threatened to hobble the program, lawmakers said Wednesday.

Almost all of the estimated 16 fired World Trade Center Health Program workers have been told this week they are being reinstated, following weeks of uncertainty over the draconian cuts by the White House and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

“The flash firings at the World Trade Center Health Program should never happened in the first place,” Sen. Chuck Schumer told the News. “Once we raised hell, the administration had no choice but to start fixing this mess.”

Schumer accused President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of putting “sick 9/11 survivors through a lot of pain with these gratuitous firings.”

“The Trump administration has much work to gain even a modicum of trust at the WTCHP,” Schumer added.

Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-New York, also hailed the rehirings, which he said came after both Democratic and Republican lawmakers pushed the administration to take action.

“This is good news … but there are still major questions about the status of the program,” warned Ben Chevat of Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act, a 9/11 advocacy group that plans to protest in Washington D.C. next week to demand more answers.

The reversal of the cuts was confirmed by program director Dr. James Howard, who praised HHS in a statement for “swift action to address these notices and return critical program staff to work to help assist and provide ongoing services,”

The action appears for now to end the chaotic budget cuts imposed on the program by the Trump administration. Howard and several staffers were fired in March as part of a wide effort spearheaded by Musk’s DOGE to downsize the federal government.

After a flurry of bipartisan outcry, the White House said at the time that it was reversing the staffing cuts and reinstating Howard.

But it didn’t actually take action until last week, when a front page Daily News scoop revealed that Howard’s status had been left in limbo, new participants were not being enrolled in the program and treatment plans were not being approved.

Three FDNY employees were unable to get treatment plans approved for recent cancer diagnoses.

After the fresh round of criticism, the health program resumed enrollments and treatment approvals. Howard was fully reinstated to his post.

Now, the workers, amounting to nearly 20% of the program’s staff, have been told they will not be fired after all.

The program provides health services to about 137,000 first responders and survivors who suffered injuries and illnesses caused by the toxins that swirled around Ground Zero during 9/11 and the weeks that followed.

About 83,000 have at least one certified 9/11 illness from their exposure during and after the terror attacks on the World Trade Center, as well as the hijacked plane crashes near Shanksville, Pa., and at the Pentagon.

©2025 New York Daily News. Visit at nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.