New York Sen. Clinton asks Bush to meet with Sept. 11 cop's son

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The Associated Press
1/29/2007, 5:46 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton asked President Bush on Monday to meet with the son of a Sept. 11 police officer who recently died after a long battle with lung problems.

Clinton, D-N.Y., made her request in a letter two days before the president is scheduled to visit New York for a speech to the Association for a Better New York.

The senator's letter centers on the case of former New York Police Department Officer Cesar Borja. The 52-year-old died Jan. 23 just as his son, 21-year-old college student Ceasar Borja Jr., was preparing to attend Bush's State of the Union address.

The young man was Clinton's guest at the speech.

Hours after learning of his father's death due to pulmonary fibrosis, the younger Borja decided to attend the speech as a way to honor his father and bring attention to those who are still sick many years after working at the demolished World Trade Center site.

A day after the speech, he publicly asked for a meeting with the president to tell him about the health problems of ground zero workers.

Clinton, a presidential contender, wrote to Bush urging him to agree to meet Borja.

"While you are in New York City, I ask that you accept the request of Ceasar Borja Jr. to meet with you," she wrote, calling the son "one of so many whose lives have been changed by the devastating health effects of 9/11."

The senator, who has offered legislation that would pay $1.9 billion for health care treatment for sick Sept. 11 workers, said Borja's case is one example of the needs of many more ground zero responders.

"People are still carrying incredible burdens in the aftermath of 9/11," she wrote.

A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Monday.