Expressing Sense Of The House Regarding September 11, 2001
Floor Speech
Expressing Sense Of The House Regarding September 11, 2001
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Mr. HOYER. I thank the distinguished chairman and gentleman from New York. I thank Mr. Pence for his remarks. On many days, this floor is a place for heated debate, and that is, of course, as it should be. That is what our Founders intended. But at this moment, as Mr. Pence, the chairman of the Republican Conference pointed out, and as I will point out as the majority leader on the Democratic side, there are no Democrats or Republicans on this floor because we join to remember and mourn the attack on America, not on Democrats or Republicans, but on America and on its values and on what it stands for throughout the world: freedom and justice.
September 11, 2001, was a day of grief and of shock, of fear and of anger. But today it can and must be something more: a day to rededicate ourselves with memory and with service to the ideals that make our Nation great, as I said earlier, freedom, pluralism, equality, the rule of law, and justice. Those, no less than our buildings and our citizens, were the targets of the 9/11 terrorists.
Though buildings crumbled and the dead are lost to us, it is in our power to see our ideals remain strong and unscathed.
So on this eighth anniversary, along with the Republican leader, Mr. Boehner, I am proud to introduce this resolution marking September 11 not only as a day of remembrance, but also a day of resolve.
So many conflicting emotions marked this indelible day: grief for nearly 3,000 men, women and children murdered; heartfelt sympathy for those who loved and lost them; and an unspeakable pride in the first responders, firemen, policemen and medical personnel who served and, indeed, sacrificed on that day. Among the 3,000 are numbered 343 firefighters, 37 port authority officers and 23 police officers who died serving their fellow citizens as they ran into danger's jaws, not away from.
Alongside them in honor stand the passengers of the United Flight 93, ordinary Americans, who discovered their extraordinary heroism at a moment of crisis and who quite possibly saved this building, this Chamber, and the Capitol dome from ruin. It is my own view that that was the target of this third plane, to strike down that dome which here in America and throughout the world is a symbol of freedom, pluralism, justice and, yes, democracy.
We also remember the sacrifices of our troops, not only those who lost their lives under our flag, but those who make the everyday sacrifice of separation from family and home. Not all of us are called to serve as heroically, but in hundreds of small acts of dedication to our communities, we can emulate their service in ways both large and small. That is our resolve today. And along with it, we resolve to take the lesson of our vulnerability to heart.
We commit ourselves to defending America from whatever threats may confront it, with all of our military force, all of our diplomatic skill, and all the power of our moral example.
Our lives are limited, but we have in our keeping the ideals and truths that have animated our Nation since its founding, and that, we trust, will outlive us, outlive all of us, to light the lives of our children and grandchildren, and as a great-grandfather, let me say for generations to come.
They have lived through war, through economic crisis, and through the gravest attacks. Now, while they are in our keeping, let us defend them, serve them, live for them, and pass them down unharmed and undamaged.
All that, my fellow colleagues, on behalf of the 300 million people who have sent 435 of us here to represent their views and their aspirations, their courage and their commitment. Let us again resolve today, may we hold it for tomorrow and every day thereafter.
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