[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 124 (Tuesday, July 23, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S4984]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     9/11 VICTIM COMPENSATION FUND

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, that isn't the only important task we 
will tackle on a bipartisan basis today. In just a few hours, the 
Senate will attend to an important subject we have never failed to 
address; that is, the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
  I know my colleagues don't need any extended lecture from me about 
the solemn commitments this program represents: commitments to the 
firefighters, police officers, and all the first responders who rushed 
selflessly toward the World Trade Center just moments after the attacks 
began, to the first responders and workers who reported for duty days 
or even weeks later, putting their health at serious risk to help 
others, commitments to those who responded to the Pentagon and in 
Shanksville, PA, as well, and in the cases where injury or illness has 
already claimed the lives of those heroes, commitments to the surviving 
families.
  Congress can never repay these men, women, and families for their 
sacrifices, but we can do a small part to make our heroes whole. That 
is why the Senate has never failed to attend to the fund before. We are 
not about to do so now.
  I had the honor of meeting with a group of first responders and 
advocates several weeks back. They gave me the badge of Luis Alvarez, a 
New York Police Department bomb squad detective who was terminally ill 
and has since tragically passed away.
  It was my honor to receive it. It was my honor to reiterate that the 
Senate's ironclad commitment to getting this done was never in doubt. I 
told the first responders I wanted the Senate to address this prior to 
the August recess, and today we will do so. It will be my honor later 
today to vote for the funding and ensure this fund is secure. I urge my 
colleagues to do the same.

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