OFFICE OF THE MAJORITY LEADER

TRANSCRIPT

Remembering September 11
September 11, 2008

... THAT WE WILL NOT FORGET, THAT WE WILL NOT WALK AWAY FROM THE DEFENSE OF FREEDOM AND LIBERTY. >> WE STAND ON SOLID ROCK HERE, AND WE LOOK OUT ON THE BEAUTIFUL WEST FRONT, BUT ON THE EAST FRONT OF THIS CAPITOL WE LOOK OUT OVER THE BARRIERS THAT HAS BEEN A CONSTRUCTION SITE FOR THE CAPITOL'S NEW VISITOR'S CENTER. REMEMBER THE DITCHES AND THE MACHINERY, THE UPTURNED SOIL, THE BROKEN CONCRETE. AND NOW IMAGINE A CONSTRUCTION SITE SPREAD OVER JUST A PART OF THIS CAPITOL COMPLEX, BUT OVER ALL OF IT. THINK OF THE RUBBLE WHERE THESE SOLID STONE STEPS ARE. PICTURE STAFFLEDING WHERE OUR HOUSE CHAMBER -- SCAFFOLDING WHERE OUR HOUSE CHAMBER NOW STANDS AND WHERE THE DOME RISES A CRATER. WE WERE SPARED THAT, YOUNG PEOPLE. WE WERE SPARED THAT. WE WERE SPARED IT BECAUSE SEVEN YEARS AGO TODAY A HANDFUL OF ORDINARY AMERICANS FOUND THEY OWNED UNTHINKABLE HEROISM, BECAUSE AN AIRPLANE SPIRALED OUT OF THE SKY INTO A PENNSYLVANIA FIELD 150 SHORT MILES AWAY. THEY SAVED US. THEY SAVED THAT DOME BECAUSE OF THEIR COURAGE AND COMMITMENT AND THEIR PATRIOTISM. LET US SPEND OUR LIVES EARNING THEIR GIFT. LET US USE OUR LIVES TO HONOR THE 3,000 DEAD AND THE MORE THAN 4,000 WHO HAVE DIED SINCE IN OUR COUNTRY'S SERVICE. A CENTURY AND A HALF AGO THE DOME BEHIND US STOOD UNFINISHED AND OPEN TO THE SKY, AND IN THE DEPTH OF WAR PRESIDENT LINCOLN SAID, ""KEEP BUILDING."" TODAY IN OUR OWN TIME OF WAR THIS DOME AND THIS CAPITOL ARE WHOLE, BUT THE WORK IS THE SAME . KEEP BUILDING. WE ARE THE ARCHITECTS AND WE ARE THE RAW MATERIAL. KEEP BUILDING OUR IMPERFECT SELVES, STRONGER IN DEVOTION TO OUR COUNTRY AND TO ITS GIFT OF LIBERTY, STRONGER IN LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER, EVEN WHEN WE ARGUE, EVEN WHEN WE FIGHT, ESPECIALLY THEN, BECAUSE WE KNOW WHAT WORDS 9/11'S VICTIMS LEFT THE WORLD WITH. NOT WORDS OF VENGEANCE OR ANGER OR EVEN EXPLANATION, BUT INVARLEEABLE WORDS OF LOVE -- INVARIABLELY WORDS OF LOVE. WE REMEMBER THEM TODAY AND WE SAY IN THE WORDS OF THE SONG OF SONGS, ""SEE IT AS A SEAL UPON THY HEART, LOVE IS AS STRONG AS DEATH."" >> SEVEN YEARS AGO TODAY A SMALL BAND OF WICKED MEN ATTACK AMERICA AND ALL THAT IT REPRESENTS. TCHE HAD HOPED WE WOULD REMEMBER THAT DAY AND THEIR TERRIBLE DEEDS WITH FEAR AND CONFUSION AND DOUBT, AND, OF COURSE, THIS DAY WILL ALWAYS BE A DAY OF SADNESS FOR AMERICANS. BUT SEPTEMBER THE 11 HAS ALSO BECOME A DAY OF SOLEMN PRIDE FOR OUR COUNTRY, SOLEMN PRIDE IN THE MEMORY OF THE COURAGE AND THE SACRIFICE WE SAW. AND AS LONG AS AMERICANS REMEMBER SEPTEMBER 11, THE HEROISM OF THE FIREFIGHTERS, POLICE, EMERGENCY PERSONNEL AND OF ORDINARY CITIZENS WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN. NOR THE GENEROSITY OF MILLIONS MOVED BY SYMPATHY AND GRACE WHO OFFERED THEIR TIME, THEIR RESOURCES AND THEIR HEARTFELT PRAYERS FOR THE VICTIMS AND FOR THE LOVED ONES THEY LEFT BEHIND. WE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER, TOO, THE MANY BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN OF OUR ARMED FORCES WHO HAVE FOUGHT TO PREVENT ANOTHER ATTACK, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO DID NOT COME HOME. AND WE REMEMBER THOSE WHO STILL FIGHT BECAUSE THIS WAR ON TERROR GOES ON. WE ALSO CALL TO MIND TODAY THOSE WHO HAVE DEFENDED AND STILL DEFEND THE HOMELAND AND CITIES AND TOWNS ACROSS AMERICA AND THE WORLD. ...