BALDWIN: Comedian and former "Daily Show" host, John Stewart, was on Capitol Hill today pushing for passage of a bill that will permanently authorize a September 11 victim compensation fund. The Justice Department says the fund is running out of money and will cut benefits in half to most recipients. Anyone with a new claim is also facing a 70 percent reduction in payouts. Earlier Stewart spoke with CNN.</s>JOHN STEWART, COMEDIAN, ADVOCATE FOR 9/11 FIRST RESPONDERS: Those towers disintegrated on 9/11. And the first responders breathed in and ate this atomize combination of glass and mercury and asbestos and any kind of toxin that you can imagine and began to get sick almost immediately. The idea that 18 years later they're still tugging on the hemline of the government to get this bill through and to get it funded properly and to make it permanent is truly beyond comprehension.</s>BALDWIN: The victims fund has paid 21,000 claims, about 20,000 more are still pending. I'm Brooke Baldwin thanks for being with me. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts now.
Fund Protesting 9/11 First Responders Running Out of Money.