The Senate voted Tuesday to end debate on the new nuclear arms treaty with Russia, all but assuring its passage, and also increasing the likelihood that the September 11th health care bill could come up for a vote Wednesday.

Cloture on the START treaty was invoked by a vote of 67-28.

The vote was the last item before the Senate was expected to take up the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which would provide more than $6 billion for first responders to the terrorist attacks.

It’s named after a city detective who died from an illness he developed after working in the toxic dust down at the site.

First responders left for Washington early Tuesday morning to turn up the heat on senators to act on the bill.

"You have people that have been waiting for nine years to be compensated," said one responder. "People who haven't worked, who have bills that have gone to collection agencies and so forth, and this bill will help them out. People have lost their homes, they've lost their cars, they've even lost their families because of what's been going on."

"We responded when the call was made and we would do it again in a heart beat, and now we're just asking our government to stand behind us and support us in our hour of need," said another.

Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand believe they have enough Republican support for the bill, now that they've dropped its price tag from $7.4 billion to $6.2 billion.

The new Zadroga bill will need approval from the House of Representatives again, because the bill has been changed since it was first passed by the House.