[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 149 (Thursday, September 11, 2025)]
[House]
[Page H4255]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   RECOMMITTING TO CIVILITY AND UNITY

  (Mr. MENENDEZ asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, 24 years ago today, our Nation was changed 
forever. I remember that day as a high school student. Standing along 
the Hudson River, a cloud of smoke and destruction hung over the New 
York skyline. There was palpable fear and terror in the air. I 
witnessed a stream of people covered in ashes, trying to get home. It 
is impossible to forget.
  What I remember most is how we came together as a country after that 
fateful day and how we bridged our divide and joined together as one 
Nation in grief and mourning but also in resolve and patriotism.
  Today, 24 years later, we are once again reminded of how easily those 
divisions can take hold of us and how they can divide us if we allow 
them to. We owe it to ourselves and, even more so, to the bravest 
Americans who answered the call that day and laid down their lives to 
recommit ourselves to civility and unity.
  We must never forget 9/11. We must never forget the victims, the 
survivors, and their families. I believe with every fiber of my being 
that we can heal our Nation and mend our wounds. We can truly be the 
United States of America and ``out of many, one.''
  Mr. Speaker, that is the best way to honor their memory today and 
every day hereafter.

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