Jon Stewart lambastes senators 'hiding in their offices' while denying health care to 9/11 responders

Former Daily Show host Jon Stewart sarcastically said on Friday that he felt "like a billion dollars" as he went from door to door in the Senate pushing for a bill that would provide health care to police and firefighters who responded on the scene of the 9/11 attacks.

"Always happy to see John and all the other first responders that are ill have to come down here and convince senators who are hiding in their offices and sending out staffers to try and run interference to do the right thing," he told MSNBC host Luke Russert.

Stewart then took aim once again at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), reiterating his statement from a day earlier that McConnell boasted about providing care for nuclear workers and then pulled the Zadroga Act from a highway funding bill.

"The health care bill for them isn't gonna cost a lot more money, 'cause there's only a finite amount of these guys and they're dying," he argued, pointing toward a responder identified as John. "If [McConnell] wants to come out and explain that, I'd be happy to hear it. Thus far I have not heard an adequate answer."

When Russert told him that critics of the Zadroga Act called it an "entitlement program," an exasperated Stewart threw up his hands and said, "That's insanity." Shortly after that exchange, Mike stepped in.

"Let's talk about what an entitlement is: a two-year term with a lifetime pension," he told Russert. "Those who are on chemotherapy, those who are taking $30,000 a month in medication, that's not an entitlement -- that's called f*cking living."

Watch Russert's interview with Stewart, as aired on Friday, below.