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Floor Speech
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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, there is one day of the year that for me will always embody what is most admirable and most enduring about the human spirit, and that day is today.
Twenty-two years after the towers fell in New York, after a plane crashed into the Pentagon, after United No. 93 came down in Pennsylvania, we pay our respects to those we lost on September 11. We mourn their loss--every last soul taken from us too early. We honor and thank every single American who became an unassuming hero in the aftermath of the attack: the first responders, the legions of volunteers and blood donors, the nameless many who did their part.
I will never forget so many scenes. One of them was a guy who owned a shoe store a few blocks north of the World Trade Center, who was just handing out shoes to everybody because many people had lost their shoes as they tried to escape from the towers. But there were so many different things.
Everywhere I go, I always wear this pin on my lapel as a reminder of our sacred promise to never forget. I called on Americans the day after to wear and display the flag. Just about everybody did as a sign of unity, of our coming together after an awful day. I wear it every day, and every time I look at this flag, I think about so many who were lost.
I was at Ground Zero this morning. I mean, you just hear the names that were read, those of every different background. They had people come up who had lost loved ones of every different background, of every different philosophy, race, creed, color, religion, origin, talking about the people they had lost.
I remember, when I went down the day after when President Bush sent a plane for then-Senator Clinton and me to come up, there were 1,000 people on line, holding up little signs--``Have you seen my brother, Bill?'' ``Have you seen my daughter, Mary?''--because when people were missing that first day, people had hoped and prayed that maybe they were still alive, but, of course, very few were.
So a lifetime can pass, but, to me, it always feels like yesterday. I look out my window, and I see the Freedom Tower--a symbol of resilience in New York--and I can see it from my window in Brooklyn, but I also think of the Twin Towers that were there and of so many who were lost.
I remember that day: the smell of the pile, human flesh; the noise from the chaos of the aftermath; the images of destruction that New Yorkers and Americans had never seen. I remember three friends of mine who perished--a guy I played basketball with in high school, a businessman who helped me on the way up, and a firefighter I went around New York City and did blood drives with. They are gone 22 years ago.
But most of all, that day stays with me because on that day and on the days that followed, I saw countless ordinary Americans do extraordinary things. Taxi drivers and store managers and businessmen and city workers and so many others dropped what they were doing and became heroes. They gave blood, organized prayer vigils, helped neighbors track down family members, and visited with loved ones and friends who had lost loved ones. I saw firefighters and policemen and union workers and rescue workers cast aside any concern for their own safety as they worked the pile. Many of them--far too many--became sick and even died because of their illnesses.
Our obligation to care for these first responders continues to this day. It is why I worked hard, along with Senator Gillibrand, to add $450 million for the World Trade Center Health Program to the NDAA. It is why I fought and successfully added another $1 billion for that program in last year's omnibus as well as the Fairness for 9/11 Families Act. And it is why, last summer, Congress enacted the largest expansion of veterans' health benefits in the PACT Act, because we learned what these carcinogens could do to people whether it was over in Iraq or down in the pile in Lower New York--because the phrase ``never forget'' is not just about remembering what happened two decades ago; it is all about taking action today to honor and care for all of those who made ultimate sacrifices in the defense of our beautiful Nation.
So may God bless the memories of all of those who perished on 9/11. May God bless our first responders, our servicemembers, and their families. May God bless our great democracy, and may we keep it.
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