(CNN) The Treasury Department has so far withheld in 2020 approximately $1.5 million from a New York City Fire Department health care program for those who worked at Ground Zero following the September 11 terrorist attacks, according to letters from New York Rep. Peter King. The Republican congressman wrote to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in June and on September 10, urging him to reimburse the FDNY's World Trade Center Health Program for its services. "It is essential that you release these funds immediately to the FDNY's World Trade Center Clinic," King wrote to Mnuchin in September. The New York Daily News first reported that the Treasury Department withheld nearly $4 million over the past four years, including nearly $1.5 million this year through late August. But Frederick Vaughan, a Treasury Department official, told King's office in August that between August 2016 and May 2020, the department withheld nearly $2 million from FDNY.

Source: CNN September 11, 2020 22:38 UTC