OFFICE OF THE MAJORITY LEADER

TRANSCRIPT

Hoyer Comments on the 2nd Aniversary of 9/11
September 11, 2003

MR. HOYER: I ASK UNANIMOUS CONSENT TO ADDRESS THE HOUSE FOR ONE MINUTE AND REVISE AND EXTEND MY REMARKS. MR. SPEAKER, THE GENTLEMAN FROM MISSOURI, MR. BLUNT, IS MY COUNTERPART IN THIS HOUSE. IT IS HIS RESPONSIBILITY TO ORGANIZE HIS PARTY TO VOTE ON ISSUES OF IMPORTANCE TO THIS COUNTRY AND TO EXPRESS THEIR VIEWS. ON MY SIDE OF THE AISLE, IT IS MY RESPONSIBILITY TO ORGANIZE MY PARTY, TO EXPRESS OUR VIEWS. AT TIMES THAT IS EXTRAORDINARILY CONTENTIOUS AND WE DEMONSTRATE TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC AND TO THE WORLD SOMETIMES DEEP DIFFERENCES. BUT ROY BLUNT IS MY FRIEND. HE IS MY FELLOW CITIZEN OF THIS GREATEST OF DEMOCRACIES AND NATIONS. AND ON SEPTEMBER 11, TWO YEARS AGO, HE AND I AND OUR COLLEAGUES WERE ON THIS HILL, AND WE HEARD THAT THERE WAS A PLANE COMING TOWARDS THIS CITY. IT WAS IN THE CONTEXT OF ONE PLANE HITTING THE NORTH TOWER AND ONE PLANE HITTING THE SOUTH TOWER OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTERS IN NEW YORK. THERE WERE NO REPUBLICANS, THERE WERE NO DEMOCRATS. THERE WERE NO LIBERALS, THERE WERE NO CONSERVATIVES. THERE WERE AMERICANS. THERE WERE REPRESENTATIVES OF 280 MILLION PEOPLE, ELECTED TO SERVE THIS GREAT NATION, AND TODAY WE ARE AS ONE WITH OUR PRESIDENT AND WITH OUR PEOPLE IN REMEMBERING, REMEMBERING THOSE WHOM WE LOST, FROM THIS NATION AND INDEED FROM NATIONS AROUND THE WORLD, AND REMEMBERING THE HEROISM OF THOSE BRAVE CITIZENS ON THAT PLANE OVER PENNSYLVANIA, DETERMINED THAT THE INFORMATION THEY HAD RECEIVED ABOUT TERRORISTS TAKING DOWN BUILDINGS WOULD NOT BE ALLOWED BY THEM TO HAPPEN AS A RESULT OF THE PLANE THAT THEY WERE ON BEING CRASHED, WHAT WE ULTIMATELY CONCLUDE WAS EITHER THIS BUILDING, THE CENTER OF DEMOCRACY, OR THE WHITE HOUSE, THE HOUSE OF THE LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD. AND SO, MR. SPEAKER, AS WE REMEMBER, AS WE REFLECT, WE RENEW OUR RESOLVE THAT WE WILL CONFRONT TERRORISM, THAT IN JOHN KENNEDY'S WORDS, WE WILL PAY ANY PRICE, BEAR ANY BURDEN TO DEFEND FREEDOM HERE AND AROUND THE WORLD. GOD BLESSES AMERICA. GOD BLESSES AMERICA THROUGH THE RESOLVE AND THE COURAGE OF ITS PEOPLE AND ITS COMMITMENT TO FREEDOM. I YIELD BACK THE BALANCE OF MY TIME. THE SPEAKER: THE GENTLEMAN YIELDS BACK HIS TIME