[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 17841-17843]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNIZING IMPORTANCE OF ESTABLISHING NATIONAL MEMORIAL AT WORLD TRADE 
 CENTER SITE TO COMMEMORATE AND MOURN EVENTS OF FEBRUARY 26, 1993, AND 
                           SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules 
and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 175) recognizing the importance of 
establishing a national memorial at the World Trade Center site to 
commemorate and mourn the events of February 26, 1993, and September 
11, 2001.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                              H. Res. 175

       Whereas on February 26, 1993, terrorists detonated a bomb 
     in the basement of the World Trade Center in an attempt to 
     destroy the building, killing six and wounding hundreds;
       Whereas on September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked four 
     civilian aircraft, causing two of them to crash into the twin 
     towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third 
     into the Pentagon, and a fourth in rural southwest 
     Pennsylvania;
       Whereas nearly 3,000 people were killed at the World Trade 
     Center site in the most lethal terrorist attack ever 
     committed against the United States;
       Whereas the attack on the World Trade Center resulted in 
     great destruction and damage to homes, churches, schools, and 
     commercial and retail buildings, causing the loss of 
     approximately sixty thousand jobs and many businesses in 
     Lower Manhattan, and wounding incalculable numbers of 
     citizens of New York;
       Whereas the human and emotional toll of this attack has 
     been deeply and profoundly felt in New York, by Americans 
     across the United States, and people throughout the world;
       Whereas the attacks united Americans with all good citizens 
     of the world, regardless of political, ethnic, or religious 
     persuasion or affiliation;
       Whereas in the months and years since the historic events 
     of February 26, 1993, and September 11, 2001, hundreds of 
     thousands of people have visited the World Trade Center site 
     to mourn the dead, to pay tribute to the heroic action and 
     sacrifice of the firefighters, police, emergency personnel, 
     and other responders, and to attempt to understand the nature 
     of this attack on the United States;
       Whereas many citizens, family members, local residents and 
     businesses, professional organizations, State and local 
     officials, and constituencies around the Nation and the world 
     are deeply interested in the successful planning and 
     rebuilding process at the World Trade Center site;
       Whereas a broad and deep consensus has emerged in the 
     United States that this is a sacred site that cannot be 
     forgotten and must be honored;
       Whereas the site of the World Trade Center requires the 
     highest form of national recognition;
       Whereas the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation has been 
     established to create a permanent memorial at the site to 
     honor the victims and heroes of the attacks;
       Whereas Presidents Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, George 
     H.W. Bush, and William J. Clinton serve as Honorary Members 
     of the Board of the Foundation to support its mission, 
     underscoring the wide support of the effort to build a 
     permanent and appropriate memorial at the World Trade Center 
     site;
       Whereas in April 2003, the Lower Manhattan Development 
     Corporation launched the largest design competition in 
     history for the creation of a permanent memorial, with 
     designs submitted by 5,201 individual participants from 63 
     nations and 49 States; and
       Whereas after a distinguished 13-member jury reviewed every 
     submission, on January 6, 2004, the jury announced the 
     winning memorial design, ``Reflecting Absence'' by architect 
     Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) recognizes the importance of establishing a national 
     memorial at the World Trade Center site, as the highest honor 
     the Nation can confer to commemorate and mourn the events of 
     February 26, 1993, and September 11, 2001; and
       (2) supports the efforts of the World Trade Center Memorial 
     Foundation to build a permanent memorial at the World Trade 
     Center site.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Jones) and the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. 
Rahall) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from North Carolina.


                             General Leave

  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent 
that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and 
extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution 
now under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from North Carolina?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as 
I may consume.
  House Resolution 175, introduced by Congressman Nadler of New York, 
declares that the House of Representatives stands shoulder to shoulder 
with the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation, the citizens of New 
York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, and indeed the Nation, who were 
struck twice by terrorist attacks, by supporting a national memorial at 
the World Trade Center site to commemorate and mourn the tremendous 
loss of life that followed the attacks of February 26, 1993, and 
September 11, 2001. I urge adoption of this resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, we are not here today to determine whether the events of 
September 11, 2001 should be memorialized. That process began 
immediately after that tragic day in truly American fashion, as 
spontaneous free expressions of grief and unity.
  Ribbons were pinned on chests. Old Glory was hung from every post. 
Shared moments of silence, neighbors gathering on front stoops by 
candlelight, families and friends and total strangers joining hands, 
churches and football fields ringing of spacious skies and amber waves 
of grain.
  Over the last 5 years, States and cities, organizations and 
individuals throughout our great Nation have chosen to commemorate that 
day, the sorrow and the heroism, in different tangible ways, with art 
and statues and structures that will long stand as reminders of our 
shared experience.
  Now, national efforts are underway, with congressional support, in 
Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon. The specific purpose of House 
Resolution 175 is to place the Congress on record supporting a memorial 
in New York City that will also be a memorial conceived, designed, and 
interpreted for our Nation as a whole.
  It is appropriate that we do this. The brutal attack upon our Nation 
was intended to be national in scope by its perpetrators. Ground Zero, 
the Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, were scarred by an attack 
aimed at the whole of America. And so our national memorials will allow 
the American people to remember and honor and heal in the manner in 
which we were attacked, as one.
  Further, this memorial should be national in scope because we have 
responded to these attacks, and we have overcome them, as one Nation. 
Mighty challenges persist, but we are meeting them, and today our 
liberty has remained intact. Our Nation is scarred, but our Nation 
prevails.
  This was not always assured. As the Civil War raged on, Abraham 
Lincoln publicly contemplated the possibility that a nation conceived 
such as ours might not long endure. We have often heard our country 
described as an experiment, the outcome of which is uncertain.
  But through world wars and a Great Depression, through painful social 
upheaval and a Cold War, and now

[[Page 17842]]

through the attacks of September 11, 2001, our Nation has indeed 
survived. A free people, free to believe as we wish, free to speak our 
minds, free to raise our children as we see fit, will, make no mistake 
about it, endure. A resilient people cherishing liberty and equality 
and the rule of law will endure.
  Tyrannies can be powerful, but they are brittle. They derive power 
from the denial of freedom. It is a power founded in the suppression of 
human potential, and it cannot be sustained. America, 5 years after 
this brutal attack, is testament that a Nation conceived in liberty and 
equality will endure. It is a triumph of millions of Americans but it 
is also the triumph of an idea larger than any one person, larger than 
any one nation.
  A memorial in New York should speak to this larger triumph, and so we 
urge our colleagues to support this resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to our 
distinguished colleague that represents the World Trade Center area, 
Mr. Nadler.
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  This bill recognizes the importance of establishing a national 
memorial at the World Trade Center site as the highest honor the Nation 
can confer to commemorate and mourn the attacks on this Nation on 
September 11, 2001, and also the first attack, on February 26, 1993; 
and supports the efforts of the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation 
to build a permanent memorial at the World Trade Center site.
  By supporting a national memorial commemorating the attacks on the 
World Trade Center, we can help establish a place where all Americans 
can remember and learn from the tragedy of 9/11. Thousands of people 
from across the country and around the world visit the Trade Center 
site every day, and millions more will come when the memorial opens, 
hopefully in 2009. This bill gives us, Members of the people's House, 
the chance to voice our support for this substantial effort.
  Mr. Speaker, on September 11, 2001, I was here in Washington when I 
saw on television the attack on the World Trade Center, and I 
immediately went home to be with my constituents, my friends, and 
family in New York. Normally, when I go to New York from Washington by 
train, I look out the window and usually the first thing I would see 
about 20 miles away from New York would be the World Trade Center, the 
Twin Towers, and when I saw them, I knew I was almost home. That awful 
day, I didn't see the twin towers. I didn't see the World Trade Center. 
I saw only a huge plume of smoke stretching all the way down to the New 
Jersey shore, and it felt like my guts were being torn out.
  This was a bill I wish were not needed, but we need to remember. We 
need to remember the charred debris, the families torn apart, the ash 
that made New York look like a nuclear winter, and the smell of the 
smoke, like death itself. We need to remember the attack on our country 
and the motives behind it. We also need to remember the heroism of 
those who rushed into burning buildings to help and the selflessness of 
those who from all around the country came to volunteer their services, 
those who donated supplies and who lined up to donate their blood all 
around this country, and even in foreign countries.
  It is our collective responsibility never to forget what happened and 
to honor the lives lost by building this memorial. That is what this 
resolution, this bill is about. There is a broad and deep consensus 
that has emerged in the United States that this is a sacred site that 
must not be forgotten and must be honored and that this site requires 
the highest form of national recognition.
  The memorial's design competition became the largest in history, with 
designs submitted by over 5,200 participants, more than 5,000 
submissions from 63 nations and 49 of these United States. On January 
6, 2004, a distinguished 13-member jury announced the winning memorial 
design, ``Reflecting Absence,'' by architect Michael Arad and landscape 
architect Peter Walker. Work on the memorial began less than a month 
ago on August 17.
  The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation has been established to 
manage the fund-raising and construction processes. The Memorial 
Foundation has a private fund-raising goal of $300 million, of which 
more than $133 million has already been raised from more than 20,000 
donors from every State and from 11 foreign countries. I would like to 
encourage those who want to help or learn more to visit the Web site of 
the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation.
  I would like to thank the entire New York delegation to this House, 
who joined me as original cosponsors and who have united behind the 
effort to establish a national memorial on the World Trade Center site 
in my district, as well as the additional cosponsors of this 
legislation.
  I would also like to acknowledge the positive role played by the 
Governor of New York, George Pataki, and New York City Mayor Michael 
Bloomberg, who have both lent their support.
  I also have to thank Ranking Member Rahall for his efforts in getting 
this bill out of committee, and also our distinguished minority whip, 
Steny Hoyer, for his help in getting the bill to the floor of the 
House.
  The establishment of a national memorial permanently commemorating 
the events at the World Trade Center on 9/11 will serve as a testament 
to the heroism of the people of New York and the people of the United 
States of America. It will help us all as a Nation to remember the 
indomitable strength of our citizens and the sacrifices made by so 
many, and it will serve as a continuing reminder of our ongoing 
obligation to provide proper care and assistance to the victims of the 
9/11 attack, not only the families of those who died on 9/11 but also 
the first responders, the rescue and recovery workers who came from all 
over the country and the residents of the surrounding area who continue 
to suffer the health effects of that tragic day and its aftermath.
  I congratulate the members of the Memorial Foundation on their 
efforts raising funds thus far and pledge our continued support as they 
begin their work on this enormous task, and I urge all my colleagues to 
vote for this resolution.
  Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 175, a 
resolution recognizing the importance of establishing a national 
memorial at the World Trade Center site and supporting the efforts of 
the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation to build a permanent 
memorial at the site.
  Five years ago, we lost 2,976 lives in a coordinated attack on our 
soil, 81 of whom were residents of the 17 towns now in the Fourth 
District. On the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we remember each one 
of those men and women who lost their lives, and their family and 
friends who still mourn their loss today.
  But this is a tragedy that we will not and cannot forget in another 
five, 15 or 50 years. We must never forget.
  For that reason, I support the creation of a national memorial at the 
World Trade Center site.
  A national memorial is a way to honor the Americans who lost their 
lives on September 11. It would be a place of gathering for their loved 
ones to come and remember those they lost. And it would be a tool to 
help teach future generations about the tragedy of that day, the 
history of the attacks and the importance of protecting ourselves 
against future acts of terrorism.
  I am grateful for the work of the World Trade Center Memorial 
Foundation and support their efforts for a permanent memorial at the 
site.
  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, the terrorist attacks of 9/11 left voids 
in our lives that can never be filled. Almost 3,000 families lost a 
love one--sons, daughters, fathers and mothers who were taken too soon. 
New York City, my hometown, lost beloved residents, protectors and 
leaders. Our city, and our country, also lost an icon and symbol of our 
nation--the World Trade Center.
  The hole where the World Trade Center once stood remains a somber 
reminder of those we lost and the heartache 9/11 has caused. Lower 
Manhattan and Groud Zero are being redeveloped in order to keep our 
city's economy strong and show our resilience and

[[Page 17843]]

resolve. At the same time, the footprints of the Twin Towers have been 
preserved and designated for a permanent 9/11 memorial.
  The men and women we lost on 9/11 must be honored with a poignant and 
thoughtful memorial. The one that is being developed is exactly that.
  We must support the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation as it 
constructs the tribute to our fallen friends and neighbors. While we 
can never refill the voids left on 9/11, we can keep their memories 
alive forever.
  When the work is completed and the memorial is opened, we will have 
an ever-lasting site to remember 9/11 and those who we lost. This is 
the way it should be--we must never forget.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I have no additional 
requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) that the House suspend the 
rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 175.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of 
those present have voted in the affirmative.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas 
and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this question will 
be postponed.

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