[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 141 (Wednesday, September 11, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S5970]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Recognition of the Majority Leader

  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Butler). The majority leader is 
recognized.


           23rd Anniversary of the September 11, 2001, Attack

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, this morning, I stood at Ground Zero in 
New York, joining President Biden, Vice President Harris, New York 
leaders, and thousands of New Yorkers to mark the 23rd anniversary of 
9/11. So many of those who lost loved ones were there remembering. It 
has been 23 years.
  Every day, I wear this flag pin in my lapel as a reminder of our 
sacred promise to never forget. Today, the pin is a little heavier. I 
called the day after 9/11--9/12--I called on Americans to wear the 
flag, to display it out their windows or wear it on their clothing as a 
show of solidarity and a show of our anguish over so many who were lost 
and, at that time, missing. I have worn the flag every day since--every 
day since--because I never forget.
  I knew people who were lost: a guy I played basketball with in high 
school; a businessman who helped me on the way up; a firefighter I went 
around the city with, urging people to donate blood. And so it is a 
tough day.
  It has been 23 years since 9/11, but I remember it like yesterday--
the smell of the pile, the images of destruction that New Yorkers had 
never seen before. I remember the chilling and other-worldly images of 
people lining up on the sidewalks, hundreds of them with pictures 
because no one knew who was dead or who wasn't. Unfortunately, very few 
survived.
  But the pictures: ``Have you seen my daughter Mary?'' ``Have you seen 
my brother John?'' I will never forget them. And I had some of those 
pictures donated to the 9/11 museum.
  I remember people I knew, as I said, who died in the attack. But I 
also remember the heroism: first responders disregarding their own 
safety and running toward danger to save others. I remember New Yorkers 
going out of their way to help each other; complete strangers joining 
to pray together, grieve together, and work together to rebuild and 
heal.
  Many had run down those stairs to escape the conflagration in the 
towers and left their shoes behind. And right a block away was a guy 
with a shoestore just handing out shoes to people. That is the kind of 
people New Yorkers are and Americans are.
  Twenty-three years later, our sacred obligation to care for the 
survivors and their families continues. In the last 2 years, I secured 
nearly $1.7 billion in funding for the World Trade Center Health 
Program, which helps first responders and survivors treat cancers and 
respiratory sicknesses and mental health and more. I thank Senator 
Gillibrand, who has been a great partner on this, and the New York 
delegation in the House--bipartisan.
  Earlier this year, we introduced legislation to make funding for this 
program permanent so that our 9/11 heroes and families don't have to 
keep coming down to Washington to ask and advocate for the care they 
deserve.
  In the last Congress, I was proud to work with my colleagues to pass 
the Fairness for 9/11 Families Act, which finally compensated those who 
were wrongly left out of the Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund.
  That is what ``never forget'' means. It is not a passive promise. It 
is an active commitment to work every day to ensure that survivors of 
those terrible days are provided for. It is a prayer that America may 
find the strength and grace to always endure; to always weather the 
storm; to always come back from adversity stronger, more united than 
before, and never turn on each other but to be unified in our strength 
and our camaraderie.