[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 125 (Monday, September 24, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H5932]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 COMMENTING ON LETTERS FROM CONSTITUENTS AFTER THE EVENTS OF SEPTEMBER 
                                11, 2001

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2001, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley) is recognized 
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Speaker's recognition. 
Certainly the people of Indiana are proud to see him in the chair, and 
we are delighted to be reconvening this Monday morning.
  Let me just thank, as chairman of the Travel and Tourism Caucus, my 
colleagues for working quickly on Friday to bring about some financial 
stability to the airline industry. And of course today, as I speak, the 
market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up some 350 points, and so 
we hope we have turned the corner on pessimism; and I know there is 
still opportunity to review and reflect on what the gentleman from 
Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) just spoke of.
  We can certainly be Monday-morning quarterbacks and look back and see 
what we could have done differently. I hope prospectively we now start 
reviewing all the safety measures affecting our traveling public. We 
have to ensure stability in the marketplace. We have to make certain 
that airlines, of course, work on safety precautions, but the 
Government has to be a partner.
  On Friday, some of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle 
objected to any bailout, suggesting somehow that that was unfair to the 
industry. I can assure you today we would be seeing a lot more massive 
economic downturn and a lot more jobs lost had we not acted.
  Today, I wanted to spend a moment on two things: one, a constituent 
of mine, Dino Laudati, wrote this the morning of the tragedy, and he 
calls it ``Eternal Flame of America.''
  ``As I watched in horror and grief as the towers of the World Trade 
Center burned, I cried in pain and disbelief. As I wiped the tears from 
my eyes and removed my hands from my face, I had a vision.
  ``In front of me the burning towers turned into burning torches, 
torches of hope, torches of courage and strength, torches of unity and 
love, torches that will guide us into the darkness to seek and defeat 
our enemy. The same enemy that ignited that fire, believing he could 
bring us to our knees.
  ``Torches that will engulf our hearts with love and tenacity, torches 
that will always burn, for the freedom that America stands for and that 
every American will fight for and would rather die than succumb to 
defeat or submission.
  ``Torches that will always remind us that we are all equal no matter 
what religion, race or background and we stand together in peace, 
brotherhood and love. We believe that God is the only one who is above 
us. He enables us to carry within us the fire of the burning towers as 
torches of eternal light.
  ``To remind us that America is freedom and freedom is America. Our 
forefathers established it, our fathers believed in it, we will fight 
for it and our children will keep it forever.
  ``Dino Laudati, September 11, 2001.''
  Dianne Robbins from my district office sent this along. Her daughter 
sent it to her, Beth Horner.
  ``On Monday we e-mailed jokes.
  On Tuesday we did not.
  On Monday we thought that we were secure.
  On Tuesday we learned better.
  On Monday we were talking about heroes as being athletes.
  On Tuesday we relearned who our heroes are.
  On Monday we were irritated that our rebate checks had not arrived.
  On Tuesday we gave money away to people we had never met.
  On Monday there were people fighting against praying in schools.
  On Tuesday you would have been hard pressed to find a school where 
someone was not praying.
  On Monday people argued with their kids about picking up their room.
  On Tuesday the same people could not get home fast enough to hug 
their kids.
  On Monday people were upset that they had to wait 6 minutes in a fast 
food drive-through line.
  On Tuesday people didn't care about waiting up to 6 hours to give 
blood for the dying.
  On Monday we waved our flags signifying our cultural diversity.
  On Tuesday we waved only the American flag.
  On Monday there were people trying to separate each other by race, 
sex, color and creed.
  On Tuesday they were all holding hands.
  On Monday we were men or women, black or white, old or young, rich or 
poor, gay or straight, Christian or non-Christian.
  On Tuesday we were all Americans.
  On Monday politicians argued about budget surpluses.
  On Tuesday, grief stricken, they sang `God Bless America.'
  On Monday the President was going to Florida to read to children.
  On Tuesday he returned to Washington to protect our children.
  On Monday we had families.
  On Tuesday we had orphans.
  On Monday people went to work as usual.
  On Tuesday they died.
  On Monday people were fighting the 10 Commandments on government 
property.
  On Tuesday the same people all said `God help us all' while thinking 
`Thou shall not kill.' ''
  It is sadly ironic how it takes horrific events to place things into 
perspective, but it has. The lessons learned this week, the things we 
have taken for granted, the things that have been forgotten or 
overlooked, hopefully will never be forgotten again.
  These are messages from our community and our constituents. I am 
certain every Member in Congress probably has similar that they have 
received. The outpouring of support for our Commander in Chief, the 
President of the United States, has been wonderful.
  In Palm Beach County, a county I come from, a typical blood bank 
volume is 500 pints a week. Last week when I visited Palm Beach County 
that same blood bank, and I will use the phrase used then by George 
Bush, the President, the President's father, a thousand points of 
light. Well, last week in Palm Beach County there were 7,000 pints of 
life supporting New York and Washington.
  I commend my community. I commend this Congress. I am proud to be an 
American. I thank all who have witnessed and watched us work together 
on behalf of the American people.

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