Washington (CNN) -- Senators negotiating a bill to provide free medical treatment to first responders of the September 11 terrorist attack in New York reached agreement Wednesday on a compromise that will allow the measure to come up for a vote.

Jessica Strauss, an aide to Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyoming, confirmed to CNN that a deal had been reached on "the basic structure" of the legislation.

Earlier, two sources told CNN an hour-long meeting Wednesday morning in the office of Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, one of the main opponents of the bill, produced an agreement in principle on a scaled-back version of the legislation.

Other senators involved in the talks included Enzi and Democrats Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, said the two sources close to the negotiations, who spoke on condition of not being identified by name.

Enzi's office said a statement on the negotiations was upcoming, and a Republican source also confirmed that an agreement in principle had been reached on the matter.

According to the two sources close to the talks, staff members were writing the changes to the bill, and another meeting would be needed to approve the final language. The biggest change was that the cost of the bill dropped from $6.2 billion to $4.3 billion, the sources said.
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Other changes include a tighter cap on attorneys' fees for people claiming benefits, limiting them to no more than 10 percent, and protection against claimants getting benefits more than once, the two sources said.

Democrats previously agreed to pay for the bill with fees collected on various services involving foreign countries and foreign visitors.

On Tuesday, Schumer said it appeared the bill will come up for a Senate vote once lawmakers voted on the START accord, a nuclear arms control pact with Russia and a top foreign policy priority of President Barack Obama. The START vote was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

"It will be decision day in the Senate, and we will see once and for all who will keep their promise to never forget the heroes of 9/11," Schumer said.

The James Zadroga 9/11 Health Bill is named after a deceased New York Police Department detective who had worked in the toxic plume at ground zero.

The House earlier passed the previous version of the bill on a mostly partisan 268-160 vote.

According to the bill's supporters, it is funded by a procurement fee on some foreign countries that trade with the United States, the continuation of a fee on some travelers to the United States and a fee on visas for some companies. The version being negotiated by the senators Wednesday drops some of those funding sources.

If passed by the Senate, the bill would return to House lawmakers for approval before Obama could sign it into law.

On Tuesday, a group of 9/11 first responders joined lawmakers in Washington to urge the Senate to pass the health care bill.

"Fourteen of our guys died that day and we continue to see our friends die on a day-to-day basis," said Glen Klein, a New York police officer who said he is sick with lung disease. "We're asking for the right to live."

In the years following the attacks, health experts have noted respiratory and mental health conditions, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, in those who engaged in ground zero rescue and cleanup efforts.

"Apparently we have some senators who would like to believe that when 343 fire officers and firefighters [and thousands of civilians and police officers] died on 9/11...that was the end of it," said Steve Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association.

"If that were true, we could move on."

The bill has been in legislative limbo since Thursday, when Senate Democrats failed to win a procedural vote to open debate on it.

But on Sunday, Democrats said they were hopeful they had pulled off "a Christmas miracle" by changing the bill enough to garner Republican support.

9/11 health benefits bill vote may come Wednesday - CNN.com