Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolution
Floor Speech
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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, in a little over a month, we will remember one of the most horrific events to ever occur on U.S. soil. The lives of those we lost can never be replaced. But their memories forever live on through their spouses, children, family, and friends.
For the last 20 years, the Federal Government has failed these individuals. Tens of thousands of pages of documents relating to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks remain classified. Without their release, victims, their families, and the public still do not have the full picture of everything that led up to that day and who was involved. While some of these documents must remain classified for defense or national security reasons, a comprehensive review of these materials is long overdue. In fact, in 2004, the chairmen of the 9/11 Commission, Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton, wrote that this declassification review should be conducted no later than 2009.
We have fallen short. But today, I hope to remedy this wrong, and I am proud to join my colleagues, Senators Menendez, Cornyn, and Blumenthal, on the bipartisan September 11 Transparency Act of 2021. The bill follows familiar legislative precedent, requiring that any documents that can be released, must be released. It is the same step Congress took in requiring the executive branch to conduct a full review of the documents captured at Abbottabad during the Osama Bin Laden raid and publish all materials to the fullest-extent possible.
This is not the first time I have requested this review. In 2018, I coponsored a Senate Resolution calling on the administration to declassify 9/11 documents to the greatest extent possible. I am sad to say, that review was never conducted. Last year, I joined my colleagues on a letter to Inspector General Horowitz, asking for an IG investigation into the FBI's handing of the 9/11 classified documents. We never received a response.
I have been a long-standing champion of victims of terror, injured or killed both at home and abroad. For example, in 1992, I sponsored the Anti-Terrorism Act, allowing Americans who fall victim to acts of terrorism while abroad to seek damages in U.S. courts, and subsequent clarifying laws. And I plan to continue to stand firm for these individuals.
September 11 is a wrong that can never be righted. But we can be on the right side of history and finally put lingering questions to rest by expeditiously declassifying any documents held by the Federal Government related to 9/11 to the greatest extent possible.
Thank you. ______
By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself and Mrs. Gillibrand):
S. 2669. A bill to ban the use of ortho-phthalate chemicals as food contact substances; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
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