[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 24285-24286]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   9/11 REMEMBRANCES IN PENNSYLVANIA

  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise for a few moments to do something 
that I had hoped to do yesterday but didn't have the opportunity in the 
midst of our hearings on Iraq and so much else going on. I don't want 
to miss the opportunity to commend so many people in Somerset County in 
Pennsylvania, who, on 2 occasions--Monday night and, of course, 
yesterday--were observing the 9/11 remembrances.
  In the case of the Monday night event I attended at the Somerset 
Alliance Church in Somerset, PA, I wanted to commend them for so much. 
There are several groups--I will not mention names--such as the 
National Park Service, of course, that helped bring that event 
together, as well as doing so much other work at the crash site; the 
families of Flight 93, the Flight 93 Advisory Commission, the Flight 93 
Memorial Task Force, and so many others too numerous to name.
  On Monday night, the service I attended was a night of grief, a night 
of gratitude, and I think a night of renewal. There was grief in the 
obvious sense that we still grieve for those who perished heroically on 
September 11, 2001, at every site--in this case in Shanksville, 
Somerset County, PA. Certainly, it was a night to grieve.
  It was also a night to express gratitude in two ways at least: One, 
gratitude for those who gave their lives heroically so that the plane 
crashed in Pennsylvania instead of coming here to destroy the Capitol 
or some other part of our Government, and where more lives might have 
been lost, as well as, I think, to express gratitude to those brave 
Americans on that plane, but also to express the gratitude of the 
people who came after that tragedy in Somerset County, where the 
families, in particular, wanted to use this Monday night ceremony to 
thank the people of Somerset County. So many people have provided some 
measure of comfort over all these 6 years to the families who loved and 
lost. So I think it was also a night for gratitude.
  Finally, it was a night to express our shared feeling of renewal, 
renewing not just our commitment to take care of those families and to 
do all we can to help them, but also our collective renewal to continue 
the fight for the ages--the fight against terrorism all across our 
country and across the world. So it was a night to renew our commitment 
to that basic shared promise that we make to each other that we will 
never stop fighting against terrorism, and we will be ever vigilant 
against this threat to all of America and, indeed, to the world.
  I wanted to pay tribute to those in Somerset County who came together 
this past Monday night for a ceremony entitled ``The Spirit of 
Community: A Service of Remembrance for the Passengers and Crew of 
Flight 93.'' I thank, in particular, the families for paying tribute to 
those in the community of Somerset County who have helped them.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.

[[Page 24286]]


  Mr. BROWNBACK. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. McCaskill). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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