[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 109 (Tuesday, September 3, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S8100]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WELLSTONE (for himself and Mr. DAYTON):
  S. 2900. A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 6101 West Old Shakopee Road in Bloomington, 
Minnesota, as the ``Thomas E. Burnett, Jr. Post Office Building''; to 
the Committee on Governmental Affairs.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Madam President, I rise today to pay tribute to an 
American hero. Tom Burnett, Jr. was a beloved husband and father, an 
adored son, and an able business leader. He was a person who would not, 
and did not, sit quietly as terrorists carried out their plan last year 
on September 11.
  I am introducing a bill today, along with my colleague from 
Minnesota, Senator Dayton. Our bill would designate a U.S. Postal 
Service facility in Bloomington, MN as the ``Thomas E. Burnett, Jr. 
Post Office Building.'' It is a companion proposal to a bill introduced 
by our House colleague, Representative Jim Ramstad, whose district 
includes Bloomington.
  Tom Burnett, Jr., who grew up in Bloomington, was aboard United 
Flight 93 on September 11 of last year. America owes Tom a deep debt of 
gratitude for his bravery on that day. It is possible that Members of 
Congress, including myself, could owe him our very lives. We will never 
know for sure. Tom is believed by investigators to have been among 
those passengers who kept the hijackers from crashing Flight 93 into a 
national landmark, most likely the White House or the Capitol. That, of 
course, would likely have resulted in many more deaths than already 
occurred that day. Instead, as we all know, Flight 93 crashed in a 
Pennsylvania field.
  After listening to the tape from the flight's black box, law 
enforcement officials have described a desperate struggle aboard the 
plane. As FBI Director Mueller said after being briefed on the contents 
of the tape, ``We believe those passengers were absolute heroes, and 
their actions during this flight were heroic.''
  Tom Burnett, Jr. was 38 years old when he died. A 1986 graduate of 
the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and a 
member of Alpha Kappa Psi fraternity, he had shown selfless leadership 
before. As a quarterback at Thomas Jefferson High School in 
Bloomington, Tom's inspired play led his team to the conference 
championship game in 1980. He was a successful business leader as chief 
operating officer for a medical device manufacturer in California.
  We will never forget the ultimate sacrifice of Tom and many other 
heroes last September 11. Our thoughts and prayers today are with Tom's 
family: his wife Deena; their daughters Madison, Halley and Anna-Clair; 
his parents Thomas, Sr. and Beverly; and his sisters Martha O'Brien and 
Mary Margaret Burnett. Bloomington will be proud to have this post 
office named for Tom Burnett, Jr. We all are proud of this son of 
Minnesota.

                          ____________________