Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2023

Floor Speech

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Mr. NADLER. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong support of Amendment 159, which would increase and decreases funding from the Office of the DOI Secretary by $4,000,000. The intent of Amendment 159 is to increase the funding of the DOI's 9/11 Memorial Act Grant Program for FY2023 from $4 million to $8 million.

Authorized by Congress with the passing of the bipartisan 9/11 Memorial Act in 2018 and signed into law in 2019, the program provides funding for the operation, security, and maintenance of a memorial commemorating the victims of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, and the victims of the attack on the World Trade Center on February 26, 1993. Awardees are selected for their extraordinary commitment to honoring the lives lost on 9/11, and those who risked their own lives to save others.

We have endeavored, as a Nation, to ensure that the 9/11 Memorials continue to stand as places of reflection and remembrance for every American. Every generation should know the tragic events of that Tuesday morning and the heroism of those who rushed back to the burning Pentagon and onto the pile at Ground Zero to put out fires, search for survivors, clear debris, and rebuild for months and years. The funding provided by the 9/11 Memorial Act Grant Program is critical to ensuring that memorials--like the acre-wide reflecting pools in the footprint of the Twin Towers in New York and the solemn benches marking each life lost on the grounds of the Pentagon--continue to provide sacred and inspiring spots accessible to millions of visitors for decades to come.

I urge my colleagues to vote Yea on Bipartisan En Bloc 7 and final passage of H.R. 8294.

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