[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 156 (Friday, September 10, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E970-E971]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




IN REMEMBRANCE OF THOSE LOST AND THOSE WHO GAVE AND RISKED THEIR LIVES 
  DURING THE TERRORIST ATTACKS LAUNCHED AGAINST THE UNITED STATES ON 
                           SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 10, 2021

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, as tomorrow marks the 20th 
anniversary of the attack launched against the United States on 
September 11, 2001, I rise to remember the victims of that horrific 
tragedy and those first-responders who risked, and in too many cases, 
sacrificed their lives to rescue the occupants of the besieged World 
Trade Center Towers. The morning of September 11, 2001 is, and will 
always be, a day like no other. It is a day all living Americans will 
remember because not since Pearl Harbor had there been such a dastardly 
and deadly attack on American soil.
  Twenty years later, my heart still grieves for those who perished on 
flights United Airlines 93, American Airlines 77, American Airlines 11, 
and United Airlines 175. When the sun rose on the morning of September 
11, none of us knew that it would end in an inferno in the magnificent 
World Trade Center Towers in New York City and the Pentagon and in the 
grassy fields of Shanksville, Pennsylvania. I stand here remembering 
those who still suffer, whose hearts still ache over the loss of so 
many innocent and interrupted lives.
  My prayer is that for those who lost a father, a mother, a husband, a 
wife, a child, or a friend will in the days and years ahead take 
comfort in the certain knowledge that they have gone on to claim the 
greatest. prize, a place in the Lord's loving arms. And down here on 
the ground, their memory will never die so long as any of the many of 
us who loved them lives. Madam Speaker, I watched as the first, and 
then the second, plane flew into the World Trade Center and was 
horrified when the buildings came down.
  I was in The Capitol and saw the billowing smoke from the wreckage at 
the Pentagon and was told about the missing third plane that met its 
fiery end in the empty fields of Shanksville, Pennsylvania thanks to 
the selfless act of patriotic and heroic Americans. But as hard as it 
is to believe, out of a tragedy so overwhelming and horrific, something 
good and great emerged in the aftermath of September 11. On that day 
there were no Republicans or Democrats. There were no Northerners or 
Southerners or West or East Coasters. We were not Red State or Blue 
State. We were all simply Americans.
  On that day, we were united in our shock and anger and sadness. We 
were united in our resolve to defend our country and protect the 
freedoms that has made America the greatest country in the history of 
the world. Later that day, I joined scores of my colleagues on the East 
Steps of the Capitol where we sang ``God Bless America''; lit candles, 
held hands, and prayed for our country and its leaders. In the days 
ahead I travelled to New York City to visit first responders and 
victims still recovering bodies and rescuing victims of the attacks and 
became a charter member of the Committee on Homeland Security to ensure 
that 9-11 never again happens in America. A united America can never be 
defeated as Operation Enduring Freedom showed.
  The brave and valiant armed forces of the United States swiftly 
toppled the Taliban and liberated Afghanistan, making good on the 
pledge that ``[w]hether the terrorists are brought to justice or 
justice is brought to the terrorists, justice will be done.'' And 
though he ran and hid for almost ten years, Osama bin Ladin could not 
hide forever and evade the long arm of American justice, which, under 
the leadership of President Barack Obama, caught up with him on May 2, 
2011.
  Madam Speaker, Americans take care of their own. Americans cherish 
freedom. Americans cherish liberty. And Americans want peace. Not just 
for themselves alone, but all persons in every corner of the globe. 
Madam Speaker, ensuring that America is safe and secure and protected 
from another attack on American soil is the least we owe to the heroic 
passengers on Flight 93 and to the brave firefighters of the FDNY and 
officers of the NYPD and the officers and civilians we lost in the 
Pentagon who gave faithful service to our nation.
  Americans want their country to remain safe, free, and invulnerable 
to another cowardly attack like the one we witnessed twenty years ago 
tomorrow. We owe that much to the Americans who lost and gave their 
lives. And we have an obligation to them to ensure that this nation--
and its 241 year record of, and experiment in, democracy--shall long 
endure and can and will withstand any threat from foreign adversaries 
or home-grown domestic terrorists.
  This nation, as with any nation, suffers the conceit that it is 
immune from attacks from within on its democratic pillars at its peril, 
as we learned tragically on January 6, 2021. On that now unforgettable 
winter day, a violent mob invited by the then-president of the United 
States came to Washington, D.C. and laid siege to the Capitol for the 
avowed purpose of disrupting the constitutionally-mandated Joint 
Meeting of Congress to confirm the votes of presidential electors and 
announce publicly to the nation and the world the persons elected as 
President and Vice President of the United States.
  As a result of the mayhem instigated by the 45th president, the 
congressional meeting was delayed for several hours, at least six 
persons lost their lives as a result of the insurrection, more than 138 
officers, 73 from the United States Capitol Police Department and 65 
from the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, sustained 
injuries during the attack on the Capitol Building, several of which 
required hospitalization and dozens, if not hundreds, of officers will 
suffer in years to come with post-traumatic stress disorder and cope 
with coronavirus infections contracted from the unmasked domestic 
terrorists and rioters who stormed the Capitol.
  All of this is more than enough to sound the warning bell that we are 
now engaged, as President Lincoln observed at Gettysburg, in a great 
contest testing the proposition that this nation, or any nation 
conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all are 
created equal can long endure. This illustrates the reason why it is so 
vital that we enact legislation to strengthen and fortify the 
foundation of our democracy, which is of course the right to vote and 
to have that vote counted. To do that, we must enact without delay H.R. 
4, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and H.R. 1, the For 
The People Act. The right to vote is the sine qua non of democratic 
citizenship; without it every other right is fleeting and temporary.

  That is why it is important to remember that the true and fundamental 
purpose of the Voting Rights Act was to give proof to the world that 
America was living the true meaning of its creed that all are created 
equal and doing so by protecting and empowering black Americans, who 
had for two centuries been exploited, victimized, persecuted, 
scapegoated, cheated, and treated with both benign and malignant 
neglect all because they were excluded from participating in the 
political process and the making of decisions that affected their 
lives.
  It is interesting to note the absence of the current frantic efforts 
to disenfranchise black voters and other persons of color had no 
antecedent in 1994, when unexpectedly Republicans won the House 
majority for the first time in 40 years and majorities in several state 
legislatures across the country. Nor did it happen after the 2010 
elections when Republicans recaptured the House majority after holding 
the White House for two consecutive terms. Madam Speaker, what accounts 
for the lack of vote suppression action then and the desperate anti-
democratic actions we see now is clear and simple.
  In 1994, 27 years ago, and as recent as 11 years ago in 2010, 
conservative Republicans still believed they could compete for 
democratic political power fair and square and that their ideals, 
ideas, principles, and values could attract majority support. But with 
the demographic changes and generational replacement taking place in 
America, the maturation and coming of age of the beneficiaries of the 
Great Society, and the rise of what social and political scientist call 
the ``Obama Coalition,'' they no longer believe that. So they now hold 
it as an article of faith that they cannot win if they do not cheat; 
instead of taking their ideas and arguments to the voters and letting 
the voters pick their leaders, they have opted to change the rules so 
they can handpick the voters.
  In The Flight 93 Election, the controversial, provocative, call to 
arms, conservative essayist Michael Anton spelled out clearly the 
perils the antidemocracy forces feel surround them:


[[Page E971]]


  

       If you haven't noticed, our side has been losing 
     consistently since 1988. We can win midterms, but we do 
     nothing with them. Call ours Hannibalic victories. After the 
     Carthaginian's famous slaughter of a Roman army at Cannae, he 
     failed to march on an undefended Rome, prompting his cavalry 
     commander to complain: `you know how to win a victory, but 
     not how to use one.' And, aside from 2004's lackluster 50.7 
     percent, we can't win the big ones at all.

  In his 1837 Lyceum Address titled ``The Perpetuation of Our Political 
Institutions,'' Abraham Lincoln warned that mobs or people who 
disrespected U.S. laws and courts would always pose the most dangerous 
threat to the perpetuation of United States:

       All the armies of Europe and Asia . . . could not by force 
     take a drink from the Ohio River or make a track on the Blue 
     Ridge in the trial of a thousand years. No, if destruction be 
     our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.

  But Lincoln advised us of the best defense against domestic threats 
and attacks on our democracy: public reverence for the Constitution and 
rule of law as ``the political religion of our nation.''
  Madam Speaker, democracy in America is not an act, it is an activity; 
it is never finished or complete but always in the process of making 
our union more perfect; and the nation will always be confronted with 
challenge of confirming the proposition that this nation, or any nation 
conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all are 
created equal can long endure.
  The price of liberty is indeed eternal vigilance. But we can do this. 
We must do this.
  After all, we are Americans.

                          ____________________