[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 174 (Tuesday, November 25, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15951-S15952]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--S. 1602

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Madam President, it is about 26 months since the 
assault on our families, our people, and our invincibility that took 
place at the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon, and in a field in 
Pennsylvania where it was so heroically disrupted on its way to a 
target. Therefore, I am outraged that we can't find enough time to 
further pay attention to the memory of the 9/11 victims by passing a 
bill to extend the deadline for victims' families, enabling them to 
apply for victims' compensation which is in a fund that was passed in 
the Senate and passed in the House and that is about to expire.
  Though we have just been through a difficult and contentious period 
with some acrimony, no matter how much I or others might have agreed 
with the outcome, our business for this year is not yet done. We are 
facing the expiration of this compensation fund, and there are lots of 
families who have yet to participate in this program that was designed 
for them.
  The need for this 9/11 victims bill is urgent. If we don't vote on it 
before Thanksgiving, this bill will become obsolete because the current 
filing deadline is December 22, 2003.
  We are reminded that a truly joyous part of the year is just 
beginning. It starts with Thanksgiving, goes through to Christmas and 
Hanukkah. It is just around the corner. A lone, anonymous Republican 
Senator is holding up a bill that would make these holidays less 
stressful for the 9/11 families. As we requested or will request in a 
unanimous consent request, the Senate must take up and pass this bill 
today in order to fulfill our commitments to compensate the victims' 
families.
  So far, out of approximately 3,000 killed, about 1,800 families, or 
only 60 percent of those eligible, have filed claims on behalf of 
relatives who were killed. This is far too low a percentage.
  Helping the families of 9/11 victims is not just the responsibility 
of the Senators in the Northeast, it is a national commitment we made 
that we owed to those who suffered on that tragic day. I am distressed 
by the fact that because of somebody in the majority, having just spent 
39 hours of time talking about a handful of judicial nominees, we can't 
even commit a few minutes today to take up a simple but critical bill 
and pass it.
  The bill is vital to thousands of Americans who lost loved ones or 
who were themselves injured in the 9/11 attacks. Many of these families 
will mourn forever. Many of these families

[[Page S15952]]

cannot yet bring to closure the terrible tragedy that befell their 
families. They are just not emotionally ready to begin the process of 
closure by applying to the victims compensation fund while their grief 
is still surrounding them.
  Imagine the Thanksgiving table without a son or a daughter or a 
mother or a father or a child. How sad that is. And we walk away from 
here not yet completing the task.
  I quickly point out, there are no additional funds required. Those 
funds were allocated 2 years ago when the fund was established. It is a 
rather confusing application, 40 pages. The difference is, if one 
applies to the fund, there is a settlement available. But in some 
cases, it may seem better for them to resort to the courts. That is why 
we have the system we have.
  It is hard to proceed and leave here without trying to do something 
about the condition in which we leave these families. We should help 
them get through the holiday period and encourage them a little bit 
further.
  The fund was estimated to cost $5 billion by Mr. Feinberg, who is the 
master in charge of the distribution. He is an outstanding lawyer who 
took this job, volunteered to do it. He notes that only $1 billion out 
of $5 billion that might be required or available were expended. Many 
others have been waiting. Some victims' families are non-native-English 
speakers, working hard to understand, get people to help them 
comprehend the application forms. Many others have been waiting to 
receive the required information from their loved ones' former 
employers in order to complete the forms.
  S. 1602, the bill that Senator Leahy and I introduced, keeps our 
promise to the 9/11 victims' families by extending the deadline to 
apply to the fund to the end of 2004, roughly a year from now. We are 
simply giving these grief-stricken families some more time to fill out 
this cumbersome application. Senators Boxer, Clinton, Corzine, Dodd, 
Durbin, Lieberman, and Schumer are cosponsors of this bill.
  I think it is really unfair that the Republican majority will not 
permit us to just move this bill along. President Bush and other 
Republicans were anxious to appear with the 9/11 families soon after 
the tragedy to show that they shared in some way their grief and to try 
to alleviate their distress. Now the cameras are gone. We should not, 
however, forget that we have these obligations to these families. This 
bill is unfinished business with a deadline.
  I had hoped the majority leader and my Republican colleagues would 
allow us to pay our respects to these families who need our help.
  On September 11 of this past year, I spoke at an event in Central 
Park, NY, that was arranged by a company called Cantor Fitzgerald. They 
lost 700 of their 1,000 employees. One of those who perished was a very 
close friend of my oldest daughter. They had worked together at another 
firm. My daughter went to law school and her friend went to work for 
Cantor Fitzgerald and was one of the 700 and left 3 young children and 
a husband behind--so unwilling to believe that his wife, the mother of 
these children, was taken away, that he visited hospitals in the area 
for some time after the attack took place, hoping that there was an 
error someplace, that he might find his wife, and that some way they 
would be able to continue. But she is gone.

  When I spoke to the people from Cantor Fitzgerald, about 4,000 people 
were there. And, again, this company lost 700. The people they touched 
is a far greater number than the number who actually perished. They 
were looking to us for some leadership, some recognition that they paid 
a price for their sheer courage, many of whom died helping others, 
including the policemen and the fire personnel, the emergency 
personnel.
  There are all kinds of stories, including the one about the man who 
walked up a flight to try to carry a woman down and both of them 
perished in the process. The stories are replete with heroism and 
courage--but dying.
  I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged 
from further consideration of S. 1602 and that the Senate then proceed 
to its immediate consideration; that the bill be read the third time, 
passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, without 
intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. CORNYN. I object, Madam President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Madam President, I know I have to surrender the 
microphone. I do it sadly, because I don't believe that the Senator 
from Texas, who raises the objection on behalf of the Republican Party, 
really would object to extending a deadline--no more money and nothing 
else has to be done except to say to these people that we have not 
forgotten. We remember that you died when America's invincibility was 
shattered. That is a day that will mark our coming and going forever. 
One need only remember what happens every time you take your shoes off 
at the airport, or you are forced to show your ID, or you are searched 
with a magnetic wand, or whatever, or the fence surrounding the 
Washington Monument so you cannot see it at ground level when you pass 
by on Constitution Avenue and fortresses are being built out there. 
They did this to us and we are going to have to live with that.
  I wish reconsideration would be taken here in a discussion with the 
majority leader and the Senator from Texas, if he cares to be involved, 
and that we can pass that bill.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas is recognized.

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