Stewart Stirred the Pot on 9/11 Health Bill: White House

Jon Stewart is getting a lot of credit for the attention he brought to the 9/11 first responders bill—including the White House itself. The Daily Show host “put the awareness around this legislation,” says Robert Gibbs. “If there's the ability for that to sort of break through in our political environment, I think there's a good chance that he can help do that.”

Others on Capitol Hill are bestowing similar praise upon Stewart for devoting an entire show to the health bill, turning it “into the national issue it always should have been,” says Sen. Chuck Schumer. “He did a good thing,” says Sen. Al Franken—better even than anything President Obama has done to promote the bill, adds a nonprofit founder helping to push the bill. Even so, time is running short and Republican Sen. Tom Coburn is determined to block the bill from passing this year, ABC News reports.
(More Jon Stewart stories.)