He will tell the nation about his dying dad
His father answered the call to duty and now the son follows.
Ceasar Borja, all of 21 years old, will tonight join the U.S. Senate, House of Representatives and members of the Supreme Court in listening to George W. Bush's seventh State of the Union address. The President's words will fill the august chamber as the young man's dad slips ever closer to death.
For, barring a miracle, death is coming for Cesar Borja at the age of 52. He is dying because, as a New York City police officer, he served at Ground Zero after the World Trade Center disintegrated, week after week searing his lungs with the towers' airborne remains.
Without a lung transplant, Cesar Borja will suffocate. In the days just past, he has been battling infection and hovering beneath consciousness at Mount Sinai Medical Center. It's doubtful he will hear the President tonight or witness the moment when the oldest of his three children stands forth as the emissary of all the forgotten victims of 9/11. But there's no doubt he would be proud.
Young Ceasar Borja might just be the man who will prod Bush to see, as Borja said yesterday, "that 9/11 did not end that year. It still continues now to the present day." He might just be the person who prompts the President, finally, to understand that the federal government has a long-term responsibility to pay for health care for thousands of sickened rescue and recovery workers.
This State of the Union address is particularly critical for Bush. He will be speaking to ascendant Democrats while facing deep bipartisan hostility toward his plan for a troop surge in Iraq - and while shadowed by the most debilitating of questions: Is this President relevant anymore?
Early reports have it that Bush will devote a goodly amount of attention to domestic matters, such as energy independence, health insurance and immigration, that have gone by the boards as his administration lost touch with the
American public. Each has long deserved a place high on the national agenda. So, too, providing excellent medical treatment to the men and women who have paid, and will continue to pay, enormous prices because they responded to an act of war.
Young Borja will be the guest tonight of Sen. Hillary Clinton, who has long been a leading advocate on 9/11 health issues. With Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Vito Fossella, she pushed and cajoled and embarrassed the Department of Health and Human Services into delivering its first treatment funding last year - five years after the fact. But there's enough money to last only until summer.
Clinton and Maloney, Democrats, and Fossella, a Republican, want Bush to create a line in the federal budget to continue treatment for as long as is necessary, and a Senate committee is set to hold hearings next month on a Clinton bill that would allocate $1.9 billion over five years to 9/11 health issues.
Judging by the dignity with which he has conducted himself since the Daily News told the story of his father's battle with pulmonary fibrosis, Borja may well crystallize for the na
tion how badly the government has failed the 9/11 responders. In anticipation of his trip, he met the press yesterday. Here is some of what he had to say:
"My father Cesar Borja is 52 years old and he is a retired NYPD police officer. He has served and protected the city of New York for 20 years, and retired in 2003. ... "I have two younger siblings. Evan, my brother, who is 16. But I feel sorry the most for my youngest. Her name is Nhia. She's my sister. She's 12 years old.
"I'm going tomorrow to Washington, D.C., with Sen. Hillary Clinton - and I thank her for that - for a chance to reach further more of the press and to promote that 9/11 did not end that year. It still continues now to the present day.
"And I am not the only one affected. But I know that I represent them.
"I hope that the government will pass legislation offering financial support for medical attention, proper health care, for all those heroes-turned-victims due to the fact that they did not hesitate on Sept. 11, 2001.
"It's not just New York's Finest or New York's Bravest, but also volunteers. I remember coming here shortly thereafter to see what was going on. I probably first arrived here at the World
Trade Center, at Ground Zero, perhaps Sept. 14, when my parents thought it was safe for me to come and visit. And I saw license plates from all over America, even Canada. They came to help. ...
"I'm lucky to be 21, to have known my father as long as I have. I hope that with proper medical attention, little girls and young boys like my brother, 16, won't have to go through what my family's going through. ...
"That is why I need the help of the government. Not just me, but everyone, everyone that's been affected, all the heroes, all of the families, all of the wives, the sons, the daughters, the brothers, the sisters, the grandmothers, the grandfathers, everyone that has been affected by 9/11. We need the help of the U.S. government. Please."
Extending a State of the Union invitation to Ceasar Borja was one of Clinton's first acts after declaring her entry into the 2008 presidential contest. Call it political if you will, but accept it as political in the best sense of the word. She is giving a young man on the verge of loss a platform from which to appeal to the conscience of a generous nation, as well as to a President who should listen and respond.
