Jon Stewart: 9/11 First Responder Shows Prayer Cards While Fighting for Healthcare Bill

While standing with a number of 9/11 first responders to urge Congress to renew the James Zadroga health care bill, former Daily Show host Jon Stewart found himself saddened when one responder showed him a large stack of prayer cards he had received at the many funerals of his fellow firemen.

Veteran FDNY firefighter Ray Pfeifer reportedly has stage 4 cancer, and while going through the halls of Congress – attempting alongside Stewart to get senators who have yet to back the 9/11 healthcare bill to in fact do so – he was given many business cards from those in our government claiming they were there to help.

Afterwards, the firefighter told Stewart that the cards in his pocket were the only ones he cared about. In fact, he further admitted that he threw out all of the business cards.

"The only cards I need are these. Here, I'll show you," Pfeifer said to Stewart, pulling out a pile of prayer cards.

"These are cards of his friends," Stewart told reporters.

"Twelve guys from my firehouse were killed," Pfeifer explained, "and the rest were in my battalion and the rest I knew. ... These come with me wherever I go."

Stewart responded, "Meanwhile we're picking up business cards from these guys."

Watch the full exchange over at The Huffngton Post.

During their visit, Stewart and a number of responders attempted to get various senators to back the 9/11 healthcare bill. Their interaction with Sen. Rob Portman (R) of Ohio was filmed.

Hours later, HuffPost reports that Sen. Portman signed on to back the bill. He is reportedly the 67th sponsor of the bill.