[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 122 (Wednesday, September 19, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9486-S9487]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          THE STARK REALITY OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTER ATTACKS

  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, in the midst of the disaster we saw in 
New York, we had a number of images all of us will remember. One that 
will stick in my mind was as one of those great buildings was 
collapsing and the smoke and the dust and debris were barreling down 
the streets and people were running away, one of those people who was 
running was a fireman. As he got to a certain point, he slowed down, 
took off his hat and threw it as hard as he possibly could.
  That courageous professional at that moment knew hundreds, perhaps 
thousands, were dying in that building and he could not save them, that 
many of his friends and brother firemen had been there at the scene 
closer than he, inside the building, and that they would not make it 
out.
  It was a very poignant scene for me, and having been involved in some 
of these issues on the Judiciary Committee and as a Member of the 
Senate, I think it is important for each one of us to remember that in 
any terrorist attack, any really serious national disaster we have in 
this country, it will not be the Federal Government that is first on 
the scene. It will be our police officers and firemen, hundreds of whom 
we lost in New York City, doing what they were paid to do--respond to 
the scene, to give aid to those in distress, at the risk of their 
lives. Certainly the Biblical reference that ``Greater love hath no man 
than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,'' applies to 
those people.
  We as a nation know we have problems with terrorism. We as a nation 
have heard people talk for days on television that we could be facing a 
chemical or biological attack or even a nuclear attack.
  We need to ask ourselves, and we have been asking ourselves in this 
Senate for some time, and I have been actively involved in this, how 
are we training those first responders who are there to react to that 
event. Each event is different. This event is different from a 
biological attack, a chemical poison gas attack would be different from 
a biological attack, and a nuclear attack would be different. And who 
knows what else could be conjured up in the minds of these diabolical 
people.
  It is important for this Nation to fulfill our obligation to those 
people we will be sending out to respond to these events, that they 
have the very best in equipment and the very best knowledge and 
training on how to handle each and every one of these events, each 
being different from the other.
  We have begun to make progress on that. I congratulate Senator Byrd, 
Senator Judd Gregg who chairs the relevant subcommittee, Senator 
Richard Shelby of Alabama, a member of the Appropriations Committee, 
and others who have over the past few years taken steps to establish 
programs to train those first responders, those firemen, those 
policemen, those emergency medical technicians.
  I am particularly interested in the Center for Domestic Preparedness 
at Anniston, AL, a center developed around 1997, 1998, where they are 
training 5,000 first responders from all over the country. That center 
is in the old Fort McClellan, the military base that was a chemical 
training school for the U.S. Army that had a cadre of people with 
expertise in chemical and biological issues, and it had live agent 
training forces for them. They had the barracks from the closed 
military base, places to stay, exercise rooms, and classrooms 
available. It was the perfect location to establish this center. It has 
done well.
  Just a few weeks before this tragedy occurred, I was very pleased to 
see we

[[Page S9487]]

had a major increase in funding for that center, taking us now to $30 
million for the year. Of the total of the perhaps $20 billion we spend 
on terrorism, maybe more in this country, it is very small. But that 
will allow us, if it becomes final law this year--and I hope it will, 
particularly after this tragic event--to train, instead of 5,000 first 
responders a year, 10,000 first responders a year. They will be able to 
deploy them around this country. In fact, many have already been 
trained. We have received great references from the people who have 
completed the training. The chiefs of police and firemen who sent their 
members to the school have bragged about the training they received. 
Indeed, New York has sent a lot of people there; 146 of New York police 
and firefighters have been trained as first responders and 226 in the 
Washington, DC, metro area have been so trained. We are making 
progress. I believe it is the right thing to do.
  At a time like this, we don't need to overreact. We don't need to do 
things that are not appropriate. But we need to coalesce all the 
information we have been gathering for a number of years that relates 
to the kind of attacks this Nation may face, take that information and 
make decisions about how to be better prepared. One of the most 
critical things we can say is every first responder, every firemen, 
every policemen, every emergency medical technician in the country 
needs to have been given by his or her Federal Government the best 
information we can give them when they are asked to put their lives on 
the line and respond to an attack.

  We have equipment and we need to make sure we can use the equipment 
to determine if it is a biological agent or chemical agent that may be 
distressing people in a certain area of town. We need to know that 
before we go in there. This is a matter about which I feel strongly.
  It is appropriate, as so many have, to pay the highest tribute to 
those people, particularly in New York City, who are at great risk of 
their lives, and many of whom lost their lives, responded to the care 
and protection of American citizens. We give great tribute to them. We 
also must give them the tools, the information, the training and 
equipment so they can be even better at protecting our citizens' lives 
and even better at protecting their own lives.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

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