[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 7282]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  HONORING THE PRESIDENT AND THE MEMBERS OF THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY

  (Mr. ENGEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ENGEL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the members of the 
intelligence community for their role in the mission that killed Osama 
bin Laden on May 1, 2011. I, too, am from New York; and, unfortunately, 
many of my constituents perished in the World Trade Center.
  I just voted for an amendment by my colleague from New York to honor 
the members of the intelligence community; but, quite frankly, I find 
it lacking in one aspect. I want to honor the President of the United 
States who had the courage to make the call on getting Osama bin Laden. 
This was not something that was a slam dunk. This is something that 
could have gone very poorly, and I really want to say that I'm very 
sorry that my Republican friends on the other side of the aisle never 
seem to commend the President. You know that if the President had done 
something wrong, they would have been the first ones to jump in.
  But I think all Americans, regardless of party, Republicans and 
Democrats, ought to say to President Barack Obama, thank you for a job 
well done. When we thank the intelligence community, and well we 
should, we also have to thank the President of the United States for 
making a difficult and courageous call.
  Thank you, Mr. President.

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