[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15242]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           COMMEMORATING 9/11

  (Mr. GARDNER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. GARDNER. Mr. Speaker, last month Americans around the country 
commemorated the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. I had 
the honor and privilege to spend the day with some of the brave police, 
firefighters, EMTs, paramedics, and first responders that put their 
lives on the line every day to protect us from harm.
  In Berthound and then in Fort Collins, Colorado, I had the 
opportunity to speak with local firefighters and police as we 
remembered the tragedy of 10 years ago and the sacrifice and loss of so 
many lives.
  The lapel pin that I have on this morning was lent to me by a friend 
of mine, Ed Haynes. It's a pin given to New York Police Department 
police officers in the wake of September 11. An officer gave it to Ed 
in 2004.
  The pin is a reminder of that day and the understanding that police 
officers and firefighters around the country share, the understanding 
that every day they go to work willing to give their own lives to save 
the lives of others.
  As the 10-year anniversary of September 11 passed, we remembered the 
victims and the devastation, the fear and the anger of that time. But 
we also remember the unity, the sense of understanding that existed 
across the Nation in the days after that horrible tragedy.
  The people that have observed September 11 over this past month, 
September 11 through today, the people that I saw that weekend, the 
firefighters, the police and the citizens, remember those days as well. 
And in today's political environment, we could do well to focus on how 
it should not require a national tragedy to bring us together.

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