[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Pages 21453-21454]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     REMEMBERING SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, September 11 is a day of the year that 
has special resonance for all Americans and always should. Earlier this 
week I was honored to stand with some of the family members of those 
who died 8 years ago this morning on flight 93. They were here to mark 
the establishment of a memorial to those brave men and women who gave 
their lives that day over a field in Pennsylvania and who in the 
process may very well have saved the lives of many of us here. Their 
role in history will now be forever memorialized here in the Capitol, 
ensuring that we never forget their sacrifice nor the sacrifice of the 
thousands of other innocent men and women who were taken from us on 
that terrible day. This is just as it should be, because as I said 
during the ceremony earlier this week, there are some moments in the 
life of a nation that are worth remembering. There are others that are 
impossible to forget. September 11, 2001, is both.
  All of us who lived through that day know this to be true. We know 
that with each passing year, the day itself may become more distant in 
time but the memories do not. And yet it is important we mark that day 
each year with sadness for those whom we lost; with solemn pride in the 
heroes of 9/11; and with renewed determination to confront terrorism 
wherever it is found. The memory of the fallen impels us.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak in 
morning business.

[[Page 21454]]

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, like all Americans, I will never forget 
where I was on September 11, 2001, and I will never forget the way our 
country responded. In the face of great tragedy, Americans came 
together with courage and unity.
  Eight years later, we continue to face great challenges. As a 
government--and as a nation--we are working to improve our safety and 
tackle the many difficulties facing us today. The safety of all 
Americans remains priority No. 1 for everyone in government. We still 
have troops working hard to protect and defend our Nation. At the same 
time, we continue to recognize that our diversity is also America's 
greatest strength. Despite our many differences, in times of need we 
are always one nation united.
  This year, for the first time, 9/11 has been designated a National 
Day of Service and Remembrance. It is with a heavy heart that I stand 
on the floor of the Senate today marking this day with a cloak and 
white roses on the desk of our departed colleague, Senator Ted Kennedy.
  Ted worked to designate this day as one of service, and in April the 
President signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act making that 
goal a reality. Ted would be proud of each and every American who took 
up that call.
  The mission of this new designation is:

       [T]o honor the victims of 9/11 and those who rose to 
     service in response to the attacks by encouraging all 
     Americans and others throughout the world to pledge to 
     voluntarily perform at least one good deed, or another 
     service activity on 9/11 each year. In this way we hope to 
     create a lasting and forward-looking legacy--annually 
     rekindling the spirit of service, tolerance, and compassion 
     that unified America and the world in the immediate aftermath 
     of the 9/11 attacks.

  I cannot think of a better way to honor the memory of those who were 
lost than by taking a moment today to remember, and then performing a 
good deed or act of service.
  September 11 is not just a day of national loss but of personal loss. 
My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who lost a friend or loved 
one. Your loss is our loss, and you are forever in our hearts.
  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise on this most solemn of occasions as 
our Nation pauses to commemorate the horrific September 11 terrorist 
attacks that were perpetrated against our country 8 years ago. With 
utmost reverence for the unimaginable loss experienced on that fateful 
morning at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in a field near 
Shanksville, PA, we remember with the heaviest of hearts all of those 
tragically taken too soon. And in my home State of Maine, we join 
families who pay tribute to victims they knew and loved--Anna Allison, 
Carol Flyzik, Robert Jalbert, Jacqueline Norton, Robert Norton, James 
Roux, Robert Schlegel, and Stephen Ward. Their lives were deplorably 
cut short, but they will be eternally etched in our memory.
  Indeed, this is a heartbreaking anniversary--one of inconsolable 
sorrow and anguish that recalls vicious and inhuman attacks against our 
fellow citizens and our nation. But this is also a time when all that 
may divide us is set aside to focus on everything that unites us as we 
coalesce together as a single and unconquerable voice against the 
forces of treachery and terror that sought to destroy us and break our 
spirit.
  We share in the grief borne by those with family and friends who 
perished in these heinous acts of cowardice, and we join with them in 
paying homage to their memories and the legacies they leave behind. And 
we recognize that even the march of time can never fully diminish the 
litany of emotions we experience as we strive to comprehend how such 
malice could exist in the world and could be committed so ruthlessly 
against innocent people.
  Yet amid the trials and tribulations that this date in our history 
evokes, we take solace in the sacred truth that none of us grieves 
alone, that there are no strangers among us--only Americans.
  We recall that, during one of the darkest days in our Nation's 
extraordinary and storied history, we also witnessed our Nation's 
mettle and solidarity, the inexhaustible courage and undaunted bravery 
that provided us with boundless inspiration and hope that sustained us 
then and inspires us today. And nowhere was that more evident than with 
the first responders who, in the face of unspeakable adversity and 
peril, heroically ran toward the very dangers others were desperately 
trying to escape, placing their lives in harm's way in the most 
courageous and valiant of endeavors to save others without regard for 
their own safety.
  The noble devotion of the firefighters, police officers, and rescue 
workers has forever established a selfless example of seemingly 
ordinary Americans performing extraordinary deeds in the service of 
others. Those men and women of valor illustrated the lasting and 
powerful truism that the benevolent forces that seek to uplift 
humankind will ultimately prevail over those base elements that would 
conspire to bring it down.
  We also honor all who, in the days following September 11, searched 
for survivors and worked in the devastation at Ground Zero, the 
Pentagon, and in the wreckage of United flight 93. Many--indeed, far 
too many--of these fearless responders paid with their own lives or now 
live with the indelible effects of having worked so closely to the 
rubble and ruin. They gave their all so that we could heal as a Nation 
and we will never forget their exceptional contributions.
  Their service and sacrifice are also a vivid reminder of the 
exceptional men and women who have donned our country's uniform to 
safeguard and defend our Nation. Whether on our shores or soil here at 
home or around the globe, their steadfast sense of duty and love of 
country are an inspiration to us all, their commitment fortifies our 
determination, and their professionalism steadies our hands in an 
uncertain world.
  Like every American, the details of the morning of September 11, 
2001, are powerfully seared in my mind from how it originated with 
beautiful and clear blue skies to its conclusion with a grief-stricken 
Nation in mourning and stunned disbelief. I watched the images on the 
television along with the rest of the world, and later that day as the 
Sun set over the National Mall--still capped by the billowing smoke 
from the wound in the side of the Pentagon--I joined my colleagues in 
the House and Senate on the U.S. Capitol steps in singing, ``God Bless 
America.'' It was an unmistakable message of unity and one that 
demonstrated to the country and to the world that we would never be 
deterred--that our freedoms could never be crushed by the blunt and 
tortuous instruments of terror that are no match against a resilient 
people certain in the knowledge that good ultimately triumphs over 
evil.
  The unending pain of loved ones lost does not ease with the passing 
of years, and yet out of the horrors of these atrocities emerged heroes 
who were then and will forever be shining testaments to the very best 
of who we are as a nation. And so, today, we memorialize those whose 
lives were stilled on September 11, and at the same time, we cannot 
help but extol the unbounded courage and indomitable spirit exhibited 
on that day and during the aftermath that continues to be the hallmark 
of this great land.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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