[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 17, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E133]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      IMPLEMENTING THE 9/11 COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS ACT OF 2007

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                               speech of

                           HON. STEVE ISRAEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, January 9, 2007

  Mr. ISRAEL. Mr. Speaker, on September 11th, 2001, my congressional 
district lost well over one hundred people; and tens of thousands of 
lives were shattered.
  So it is on their behalf that I rise today and support passage of 
this bill, to implement the recommendations of the bipartisan 9-11 
Commission.
  I am grateful that the first bill to be passed in the first hours of 
a new majority is this one. Because America can't afford to wait 
another minute. We've had 5\1/2\ years of excuses, delays, 
postponements and lobbying. That's 5\1/2\ years too long.
  Even today, Mr. Speaker, there are some who doubt we can meet the 
deadlines to screen air cargo in 3 years and shipping cargo in 5 years.
  Mr. Speaker, America's greatest triumphs were not achieved by saying 
``it's too hard.'' They were secured by refusing to take no for an 
answer.
  In 1962, 5 years after Sputnik was launched, John F. Kennedy said, 
``By the end of the decade we will land on the moon.''
  In 2007, over 5 years after 9-11, we are saying, ``by the end of the 
decade we will screen all air cargo on our planes.''
  If we could research, develop, engineer and build the systems that 
lifted people into space, out of orbit, propel them to the moon, land 
them on the moon, bring them back to their capsule, return to earth, 
survive a fiery re-entry and deposit them safely in the ocean--then we 
should be able to figure out how to screen air cargo in a way that 
minimizes risk and inconvenience to people who get on planes.
  Mr. Speaker, when it came to securing America's place in the world, 
President Kennedy didn't say ``I wish we could land a man on the moon 
but it's not easy enough, so instead we'll send a bus to Des Moines.''
  Mr. Speaker, when it came to preserving our national survival, 
President Roosevelt didn't say, ``Yesterday was a day of infamy, so 
let's spend 5\1/2\ years figuring out how to respond with the least 
inconvenience to the American people.''
  Mr. Speaker, when it comes to the safety and security of my 
constituents, there can be no more excuses, no further delay, no higher 
priority.
  And to those who disagree with me, who earnestly and honorably 
believe we must continue to study feasibility and practicalities, I 
will share other words of President Kennedy, from that same speech when 
he told America we would go to the moon:

       We choose to go the moon in this decade and do the other 
     things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, 
     because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best 
     of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one 
     that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to 
     postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, 
     too.

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